The Dallas City Council on Wednesday extended Mayor Eric Johnson’s emergency declaration from last week, stretching out a set of unprecedented measures to halt the spread of the coronavirus.
The extension means the mayor’s ban on gatherings of 50 or more also remains in effect. So does the order to close bars, dine-in restaurants, entertainment venues, gyms and theaters. Restaurants can stay open only for drive-through, delivery and takeout services.
Dallas County went further on Wednesday, banning gatherings of 10 or more people. Tristan Hallman, Johnson’s spokesman, said the city’s measures may be revised to reflect the new county restriction.
The closures are a major blow to the local economy, in particular small businesses that may not be able to scrape by with low profits — even for a short span.
“This is a gut-wrenching decision, and it weighed very heavily on me," Johnson said Wednesday about the ban. But he added that the decision protects the health and welfare of the public.
“We do not know when we’ll be beyond this crisis,” Johnson said.
The council also voted to require all city boards and commissions, except the city’s Employee Retirement Fund, to meet by video or teleconference until further notice.
Council members debated at length whether the declaration should have an end date. An amendment by council member Paula Blackmon set the expiration for 11:59 p.m. on April 29, with a three-week assessment of the decision on April 8.
Hours before the council vote, Dallas County reported 11 more presumptive positive cases of coronavirus infection, bringing the total to 39. Four of the patients were residents from outside the county. Seven of the new cases probably resulted from community spread.
The county lab had tested 109 people as of Tuesday afternoon, and it has the capability to do 160 a day. Officials have said to expect cases to rise as more tests become available.
Dr. Philip Huang, director of the Dallas County Health and Human Services, said the public should continue to follow health care professionals’ advice to avoid contamination, keep at-risk populations safe and prevent overloading the health care system.
Huang told the council it could take a year to 18 months to provide a vaccine. The coronavirus is 14 to 34 times more lethal than the flu, he said Wednesday.
“The United States, Dallas County, has always been able to pull it together in these times of crisis,” Huang said.
Council member Jennifer Gates, who represents part of northern Dallas, criticized the county’s testing criteria and inability to offer better capabilities. She said officials were providing a false sense of security with the low number of confirmed cases.
Gates said the county should eliminate some of the criteria so officials can test at full capacity because average residents rely on public labs.
“The testing is paramount," Gates said. "Our average residents in Dallas might not have access to private testing.”
Johnson asked Huang why tests were “trickling in” when the county lab has the ability to conduct 160 a day.
Huang said officials didn’t want to indiscriminately test people because the county could potentially run out when the tests are needed most. He said officials must prioritize first responders and high-risk individuals.
“We don’t have the testing capacity we want,” Huang said. “If we just use them up … there are critical decisions that are coming to all of us.”
Rocky Vaz, director of emergency management, said city officials had their first meeting with the state about COVID-19 in late January. On Feb. 26, city officials began to review all Continuity of Operations plans in case of an emergency. City employees affected by COVID-19 will be granted 14 days of paid sick leave, Vaz said.
A Parkland Memorial Hospital testing location for health care workers, first responders and the at-risk population has been operational since Monday. Vaz said officials hope to provide two more testing sites soon, one at the American Airlines Center’s parking lot and another at the Ellis Davis Field House.
Eventually, he said, officials want to allow the public to use those testing sites.
“We are not there yet,” Vaz said.
Council members also asked whether officials should consider more extreme measures, such as a full lockdown or a curfew.
Police Chief U. Renee Hall told council members a curfew would “help us tremendously” by limiting opportunities for exposure to the virus and protecting first responders from open spaces at night.
The emergency declaration’s extension follows briefings from the airport, DART, school districts and county officials at the council meeting.
Last week, Johnson declared a local state of disaster, which remained in place for seven days and required a council vote for an extension. City Manager T.C. Broadnax has said the city’s code enforcement department will be responsible for ensuring the public follows those rules, with the help of the Police Department.
The declaration gives the city manager and emergency management director broad authority to enact any urgent public health measures.
The disaster proclamation also requires that county officials report to the mayor the number of tests conducted daily. County officials began to report those numbers Thursday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last weekend recommended that gatherings of 50 or more be canceled or postponed for eight weeks.
City officials took drastic measures Wednesday to distance each other by holding a meeting about the virus via a video conference at City Hall. Some teleconferenced remotely, others from the briefing room.
Questions were also raised about protection for first responders, and Dr. Marshal Isaacs, medical director of Dallas Fire-Rescue, said locations that were being monitored or under investigation for the virus would be flagged in the 911 dispatch system. First responders also use proper protective equipment such as masks, and the city is tracking their travel history.
Isaacs told the council that Fire-Rescue and the Police Department have been working for several weeks “to make sure that we are as prepared as we can be.”
Several council members have said they want to discuss policies that could help ease the financial burden on struggling families — such as eviction protections, assistance on utility payments and faster unemployment benefits for those who are laid off.
Blackmon, who co-chairs a committee on recovery from the virus, said she plans on “looking at everything and seeing what can be done in order to make lives a little bit easy in this uncertainty."
