Nov 18, 2020
ABILENE/TAYLOR COUNTY LEADERS CALL FOR COMPLIANCE AMID THEIR OWN LIMITS
As Taylor County tracks 2,249 active cases of COVID-19, Abilene and Taylor County officials are urging locals to do their part to slow the spread of the virus. Local ICU beds are full, and the hospitals are now treating 83 patients for the coronavirus. Abilene may be seeing hospital capacity stretched to the limit by COVID-19, but some other Texas cities have been completely overrun. That’s led some cities to try enacting curfews, stay at home orders, and business closure, only to be challenged in court by Governor Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton. Last week an appeals court overturned El Paso’s restrictions.
 
Abilene’s leaders have watched what’s going on around the state, and City Manager Robert Hanna says their messages urging locals to wear masks, wash their hands, and maintain a six-foot separation from others in public, is all they can do. “The governor’s removed all municipal and county authority to shut things down. So when people call us in clamor ‘hey why aren’t you doing more?’ We are literally doing all we can do that the governor’s allowed us to do. And if they want to see Abilene shut down, you need to call the governor’s office, because he’s the only one that can do it.” Hanna says the only thing that would trigger further restrictions would be if Abilene surpassed 130 hospitalizations for 7 days. Hanna says he prays the hospitals never reach that level of demand.
 
Hendrick Health Systems is joining in the effort to spread the message of protocol compliance. The ICUs have been full for weeks, and hospital leaders have requested additional staffing help from the state. 
 
Hendrick Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Rob Wiley, says he knows people are feeling fatigued by the restrictions. But he stressed that individual cooperation with mask wearing, hand hygiene, and social distancing is key to turning the surge around. Wiley explained in a video why he chooses to follow the restrictions. “I don’t know if I have Covid. Covid could present as a-symptomatic or with very mild symptoms, looking like a cold or allergies. So it is important for me to wear my mask to protect others.” Dr. Wiley says he’s acting out of concern for his neighbors and the community. “The person who’s standing beside me, I do not know what underlying conditions they have. I do not know who they take care of. So, for concern for my community, I wear my mask.” Dr. Wiley says Abilene needs its residents to act as a community, following the protocols, in order to protect each other, and to stay open long-term. (Source: KACU)
TEXAS REBOUND LIKELY SLOWED BY RENEWED COVID-19 IMPACT ON SERVICES, RETAIL
The Texas economy’s recovery from COVID-19 in the spring continues, though a resurgence of the virus likely contributed to a recent slowing of growth in the service and retail sectors.

Overall, Texas jobs grew at an annualized 3.6 percent in the third quarter, falling short of the national growth rate of 11.9 percent.

Texas jobs expanded an annualized 8.0 percent in August, slowing to 1.0 percent in September (Chart 1). While the state has trailed the national recovery, Texas’ employment contraction in March and April was relatively mild. September payrolls were an annualized 9.7 percent below February 2020 pre-pandemic levels, while national jobs numbers were 11.8 percent lower.
IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON SMALL SERVICE FIRMS CLOUDS TEXAS JOBS ESTIMATES
The 2020 downturn has differed from past recessions in many ways. It has particularly affected high-contact service industries such as restaurants, bars, hotels, retail establishments and personal services. These contain a large number of independent businesses with few employees.

The concentration of such smaller firms creates a special challenge for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) because the agency undersamples small firms in its jobs survey. This gives rise to questions regarding the comprehensiveness of the data underlying estimates of job losses and gains in Texas this year.
WHAT WE'RE READING

U.S. water use declining for most crops, livestock production

A comprehensive University of Illinois study looked at water withdrawals in U.S. agriculture and food production from 1995 to 2010. The main trend was a decline in water use, driven by a combination of factors.


Pandemic speeds up influx of remote workers to small cities

Trend could transform smaller metros, change how Americans choose where to live.
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