As the North Texas region tops the 15 percent threshold for all available hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients for the seventh consecutive day, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins has announced that all non-essential businesses in Dallas County will be required to drop their occupancy limit from 75 to 50 percent, as per Gov. Greg Abbott’s Executive Order GA-32.

Tarrant County is also in the hot zone, but Judge Glen Whitley said today the county will leave it up to the state and cities to enforce the governor’s order.

Jenkins said Dallas County will also follow other protocols laid out in GA-32, which Abbott issued on Oct. 7. Those other protocols include closing bars that do not meet certain requirements as laid out in GA-32: “A bar or similar establishment may offer on-premises services at up to 50 percent of the total listed occupancy of the establishment if:
a. the bar or similar establishment is not in an area with high hospitalizations … and the county judge of the county in which the bar or similar establishment is located files the requisite form with TABC; or
b. the bar or similar establishment is in an area with high hospitalizations as defined above, but is located in a county that has filed with DSHS, and is in compliance with, the requisite attestation form promulgated by DSHS regarding minimal cases of COVID-19, and the county judge of the county in which the bar or similar establishment is located also files the requisite form with TABC. … People shall not visit bars or similar establishments that are located in counties not included in parts (a) or (b) above. A current list of all counties reopening under this paragraph will be maintained on TABC’s website.”

Read Executive Order GA-32 in its entirety here.

The change was set to take effect as soon as today’s numbers were updated on the Texas Department of State Health Services.

According to the Tarrant County website, the COVID-19 community spread level is “substantial.” There have been 105,675 confirmed cases in Tarrant County, including 1,894 new cases and 864 deaths.

In Dallas County, today’s COVID-19 risk level was at the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” red level. As of noon today, Dallas County Health and Human Services was reporting a total of 130,830 cases confirmed in the county, with 2,122 additional positive cases and 1,224 confirmed deaths.

— Tammye Nash