A plan to put residents idled by orders closing businesses to slow the spread of COVID-19 back to work can’t wait until a vaccine is developed, but it’s too soon to say exactly when and under what conditions the local economy can be reopened, Waco and McLennan County officials said during a virtual news conference Wednesday afternoon.
“I don’t think we can wait until a vaccine is available,” Waco Mayor Kyle Deaver said.
“That will be at least 12 to 18 months until that happens”
“We are going to have to find ways to get back to work in a safe way, but at the same time I don’t think we have a date we can point to and say that’s when we begin,” he said.
Deaver said he and other local leaders are waiting to hear from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who’s expected to announce a plan on Friday to begin to reopen businesses in the state.
“It’s way too early to open things back up. We have to play day by day and week by week,” Deaver said.
The coronavirus isn’t expected to peak in the county until April 29 and other models show the peak arriving in late May or early June, Family Health Center CEO Dr. Jackson Griggs said.
Deaver said officials won’t start easing restrictions until testing becomes more widely available and accurate.
The shutdown, officials said Wednesday, has taken a bite out of city revenue.
Waco is facing an $8 million shortfall in sales tax revenue, which could ultimately result in tax increases.
Six percent of the city’s workforce has been furloughed.
Seventy four cases of the virus have been confirmed in the county and 1,925 tests have been administered.
Four residents have died.
Elected officials at every level are under mounting pressure to reopen the economy, but medical experts say social distancing
President Donald Trump has said businesses in some states could reopen as early as May 1, and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, says “it is time for Texans to go back to work.”
“I think we can do things in reasonable steps, guided by the science in the public health,” Cruz said.
“OK, we’re going to protect vulnerable populations, if there’s jobs where there’s some risks. It may be that when people go back to work that they wear a mask and gloves for some period of time to limit the spread of disease.
— KWTX 10
