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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott set the nation’s second-largest state on a path to reopening Friday, with an announcement that shopping, hiking and some medical procedures may restart as soon as next week.
Stores will be allowed to reopen April 24 on a to-go or delivery basis, similar to restaurants, so employees can run items to customers at the front doors to the shops, at their car windows or at their homes, Abbott said.
“We’ve been going for more than a month now with strategies showing businesses have been able to provide food and other supplies and products by delivery to cars, by delivery to homes,” Abbott said. “We can at this time conclude that such businesses can be expanded.”
See also: Florida governor gives green light for beaches to reopen
State parks, which have been closed since April 7 will reopen Monday if visitors wear masks and limit group sizes to five. Wednesday, doctors will be allowed to return to performing some surgeries and medical procedures, such as testing for cancers, that were otherwise postponed. Abbott said the state has plenty of hospital beds and a “solid supply chain” of protective equipment “and many of our doctors and nurses have patients who desperately need medical treatment.”
