(Bloomberg) -- Houston-area officials said they are “getting close” to reimposing a stay-at-home order and prepared to reopen a Covid-19 hospital established but never used at a football stadium as virus cases expand in the fourth-largest U.S. city.
The announcement by Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner on Thursday came a day after the Lone Star state recorded its highest one-day tally of new cases since the pandemic emerged.
“We may be approaching the precipice of a disaster,” said Hidalgo, the highest-ranking county executive. “It’s out of hand right now. The good news is it’s not severe out of hand.”
Harris County, which encompasses Houston and adjacent suburbs, also instituted what it called a public health threat level assessment that will alert residents if conditions worsen or improve. The level remains at the second-highest on the four-tier scale.
The ad hoc medical facility opened at NRG Stadium on the city’s south side will be reestablished if pressure on the local hospital system becomes “severe,” Hidalgo said in a meeting with reporters.
(Updates with potential revival of stay-home order starting in first paragraph.)
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