Nearly seven weeks ago, Dallas announced it was introducing its first restrictions in connection to COVID-19, restricting gatherings to less than 50 people. 

Since the announcement, life for the Texans has turned upside down. In just a few weeks, big gatherings were prohibited, daycares, schools, and non-essential businesses closed, and everyone was encouraged to stay home.

Scott Gottlieb from the American Enterprise Institute told Politico that Dallas was flagged "as a city of concern, and he'd be worried about it." 

Specifically, the lack of COVID-19 testing in Texas, resulting in a possibly undercount of infections one of the main reasons Gottlieb is worried about Dallas. 

He added, the city's hospitals created an eerie feeling of the calm before the storm. Relatively, infections started to spread, and the whole town started bracing for the worst.

The Governor's Order

This will be the first whole week that the order of Gov. Greg Abbot to reopen Texas is taking effect. A choice of industries which include malls, cinemas, and restaurants are allowed to return to the business at 25-percent capacity.

However, it was only recently that the federal government recommended that people store food and self-care products on hand, good for 30 days, in case they couldn't be accessed easily. 

Such changes take a level of mental exercises, and there is a need for gentleness and graciousness to come into terms with it.

Generally, the reopening tactic of Texas strikes the proper balance of both health and economic risks. And, while the so-called "coastal elite" may shake their heads at another venture of the state into the wild west, the order seems measured and cautious, unlike the plans, for instance, in Georgia.

Essentially, the staggering of industries that can operate again based on those engaging the least human contacts makes sense, not to mention, opening at smaller and lower capacities to see whether outbreaks are triggered before they open more broadly.

Reassuringly, the economies currently being permitted to open first are frequently in line with the "Johns Hopkins Public Health Principles" reopening that's phased, during the pandemic, ranking sectors by the intensity of human contact.

Low- or less-contact interactions were defined as being from a distance, or brief. High-contract interactions, on the other hand, mean having proximity or prolonged exposure.

Moreover, it is no longer surprising that retail is comparatively low and, therefore, opening first compared to public transit, place of worship, or gyms.  

Consequently, a lot of consumers and businesses are possibly to take that "wait-and-see" tactic, so capacity is probably to be below that which is permitted. 

Adequate Testing Would Inspire More Confidence

Fundamentally, it would stimulate more confidence if COVID-19 were in place for the assessment of new occurrences of the outbreak. Aside from being nice to have, it is also essential for the whole strategy to work.

In the report from the Gottlieb American Enterprise Institute, about the road map to return to business, the trigger for such a reopening of businesses, whatever type it is, as well as schools, includes having the ability to test everyone with the symptoms of COVID-19 and actively monitor patients and these they've been in contact with.

These conditions are on top of the sustained lessening in COVID-19 cases for at least two weeks. Unfortunately, as observed by some experts, Texas has not achieved those yet.

It seems that Gov. Abbott has taken a bit of a strategy called "divide-and-conquer," rather than completely reopening, to return to business with partial testing partly.

In connection to this, the spacing of Gov. Abbot's phases from which gyms will open on May 18, among other businesses, and there is an increase in capacity to 50 percent, feels quite so short to thoroughly understand the effect of reopening on contagion rates, given the gaps in testing.

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