Good morning,

After a month of bad news, I wanted to share with you  some really good news for those who have been tracking the coronavirus information. And, really, who hasn’t?

Hence, this special Saturday edition of the Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Saturday, April 18, 2020
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• After a week of silence about Texas, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation updated their model yesterday. The results?
     
• The virus’ peak had been set for April 29 – but has now shifted to April 15.
     
• The projected total deaths resulting from the virus by August 4 had been pegged at 2,704. Now, IHME puts the total death count in Texas at 957.
      
• Meanwhile, an article in today’s Wall Street Journal points to a new study from Stanford University that shows infections from the coronavirus were 50 to 80 times more prevalent than anticipated.
      
• The WSJ author, molecular biologist Andrew Bogan, writes the study “sug­gests that the large ma­jor­ity of peo­ple who con­tract Covid-19 re­cover with­out ever know­ing they were in­fected, and that the U.S. in­fec­tion fa­tal­ity rate may be more than an or­der of mag­ni­tude lower than au­thor­i­ties had as­sumed. Based on this sero­preva­lence data, the au­thors es­ti­mate that in Santa Clara County the true in­fec­tion fa­tal­ity rate is some­where in the range of 0.12% to 0.2%—far closer to sea­sonal in­fluenza than to the orig­i­nal, case-based es­ti­mates.”
      
• It’s not all good news, as you will see below in the number of the day.
      
• Texas is still closed – and will continue to be for at least another week or longer, based on Gov. Greg Abbott’s announcement yesterday.
     
• As Cary Cheshire reports, Gov. Abbott did not present a plan for reopening Texas, instead he announced a strike force of politicians, lobbyists, and businessmen who will develop a plan.
     
• Abbott did announce schools would be closed for the remainder of the academic year, but says retail operations can now resume if they adhere to curbside pick up or “to go” models. State parks will reopen on Monday, provided you wear a mask. No word on churches.
      
• Mark your calendar, the governor said he’d have more plans to announce on Monday, April 27.
     
• And finally... State Sen. Bob Hall writes that a new directive from the Texas Medical Board divides sick Texans into two classes: “First-Class Medical Citizens – Chinese COVID-19 patients; and Second-Class Medical Citizens – Everybody else.”
   
• “Unless the medical board prescribes for itself a good dose of reality and common sense, you are going to have to wait until you catch the virus if you want medical treatment anytime in the foreseeable future.” – Bob Hall (R-Edgewood)

NOTE: The Texas Minute will return on Tuesday, April 21.