Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday, April 13th, again foreshadowed a potential executive order later this week to begin the process of reopening the state's economy, as President Trump publicly advocates for the U.S. to get back to business as quickly as possible amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Monday comments from Abbott come after he said on Friday that he planned to sign an executive order “about reopening Texas businesses ... in a way that will be safe for that economic revitalization.”
“At the same time we cannot ignore the impact economically that the coronavirus has caused,” Abbott said in his Monday remarks. “Later this week I will outline both safe and healthy strategies where we can begin the process of going about reopening businesses in Texas and revitalizing the economy.”
Abbott made clear that just because he is eyeing an economic restart doesn’t mean his state is out of the woods.
“I have some good news, I will call it glimmers of hope with a whole bunch of red flags attached to those glimmers of hope,” he said, referring to the decreases in positive tests for the coronavirus in Texas.
This came on the same day New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he was speaking with neighboring governors on when and how the states could work in conjunction to reopen their economies. He outlined a set of objectives, including easing isolation, increasing economic activity, expanding “essential workers” and increasing testing.
On Monday, Trump tweeted that he would soon announce a national plan for getting the U.S. economy going again.
“A decision by me, in conjunction with the Governors and input from others, will be made shortly!” he said.
Abbott also previewed what his order could look like, with a team of experts selectively opening the economy bit by bit.
“What we’re going to be doing later on this week is introducing Texas to this comprehensive team that we’ve put together ... that will ... evaluate what must be done for Texas to open back up ensuring what we are doing is consistent with data, with medical analysis as well as strategies about what type of businesses will open up,” Abbott said.
He continued: “This is not going to be a rush the gates, everybody is able to suddenly reopen all at once. We have to understand that we must reopen in a way in which we are able to stimulate the economy while at the very same time ensuring that we contain the spread of COVID-19.”
Also Monday, Abbott introduced a plan to provide loans to small businesses affected by the coronavirus.
Fox News’ Ronn Blitzer, Brooke Singman and Alex Pappas contributed to this report.