Collin County cities intend to issue shelter-in-place orders, McKinney mayor says

McKinney and other Collin County cities intend to issue shelter-in-place orders similar to Dallas County’s, the mayor of McKinney said Monday.

Seventeen Collin County mayors and the county judge were on a call Monday morning to work out the details of a shelter-in-place order, McKinney Mayor George Fuller said.

He said the officials probably would work past midnight Monday to finalize the language of the shelter-in-place order. Once that’s done, cities will decide whether they want to opt in.

“We believe it’s critical that we have regional consistency and continuity,” Fuller said. “Clarity is important in times like this.”

He said the city and county officials have studied the shelter-in-place order Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins announced Sunday night, as well as similar orders in cities and counties across the nation.

Although Collin County’s plan was not settled, Fuller said there probably would not be subtractions from the Dallas County order. But he said he was in favor of adding language outlining conditions and practices for essential businesses that would remain open.

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Earlier Monday, Fuller said in a Facebook post that the Collin County cities had reached a consensus on adopting some form of a shelter-in-place order.

“This consideration was not arrived at easily, as we understand the further, negative financial impact that businesses and the workforce will suffer,” he said. “However, it is believed that, in the absence of thorough local testing results, we must rely on more comprehensive data that exists in other parts of the world.”

Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney posted the same statement on his Facebook page.

County Judge Chris Hill could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

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Tim Wyatt, a spokesman for the county, said a news conference with Hill and some of the county’s mayors is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday.

In a news release issued later Monday, Wyatt said, “If a new executive order/amended order is complete, we’ll distribute at that time.”

As of Monday evening in Collin County, there have been 45 confirmed positive coronavirus cases. Eight people have recovered, and one has died.

Other cities and counties in North Texas, and around the state, seemed poised to follow Dallas County’s lead or already had by Monday evening.

The city of Richardson, which is in both Dallas and Collin counties, issued a shelter-in-place order late Monday that is similar to Dallas County’s but lasts until April 30 or until it is modified.

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said her city would be part of a “coordinated message from the big city mayors and the county judges in response to COVID-19.”

“We know that we must act, and we know that a coordinated response is critical at this stage,” Price said in a Facebook Live video Monday, a day after Tarrant County commissioners extended an order that closed a number of businesses but did not require residents to shelter in place.

On Twitter, Price seemed to hint at what might be to come: “Y’all Stay Home. Announcement tomorrow at 9 a.m.”

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that Price, along with the Tarrant County county judge and the mayor of Arlington, would announce a stay-at-home order Tuesday.

Rockwall County commissioners planned to vote on a shelter-in-place order Tuesday morning, according to Quorum Report. The city of Forney, in Kaufman County, ordered residents to shelter in place, beginning at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday and lasting through April 8.

San Antonio and Bexar County announced residents should shelter in place beginning Tuesday night until April 9. And Austin Mayor Steve Adler told media outlets that a shelter-in-place order would be issued for residents of the capital and Travis County on Tuesday morning.

In his order Sunday night, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins told residents that at 11:59 p.m. Monday they must stay in their homes except to perform essential jobs or run certain errands, such as grocery shopping or caring for a relative.

The good that Dallas County residents could do by sacrificing their daily routines would be blunted if surrounding counties did less, experts say.

Coordination among counties that blend into each other — such as Dallas, Collin, Denton and Tarrant — is best, said Gerardo Chowell, an epidemiologist with Georgia State University in Atlanta.

“It makes sense to reduce contact rates in this highly dense area” to decrease cases throughout the region, Chowell said.

If neighboring counties resisted the strictest measures, Chowell said, Dallas County would bear a disproportionate burden of the economic harm that comes with the restrictions.

This weekend, a group of hospital CEOs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area urged Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to consider issuing mandatory shelter in place statewide to help hospitals manage the expected surge of patients.

On Monday, the Texas Hospital Association urged communities statewide to order residents to stay home. And a letter from association president and chief executive Ted Shaw asked the governor to be prepared to implement a statewide shelter-in-place order “as the situation becomes necessary.”

Abbott has said he is reluctant to impose a statewide shelter-in-place order in smaller counties that don’t have many cases.

John Wittman, an Abbott spokesman, said Monday that the governor is making decisions based on information from the Department of State Health Services and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We’re listening to the guidance that medical experts are giving us,” he said. “These are decisions being made on science.”

Wittman said county officials “have the flexibility to impose more-stringent things, if necessary.”

In Denton County, there is not a stay-at-home order in place but tighter restrictions were set to take effect Monday night. They include limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people; limiting bars and restaurants to take-out, delivery or drive-through service; and temporarily closing public places such as movie theaters, bingo halls, gyms and hair salons.

Grocery stores, drugstores, office buildings and other places may remain open but must ensure social distancing.

Denton County Judge Andy Eads said the order was drafted with feedback from the county health director, local hospitals and state health officials. And that communication hasn’t stopped. “I’m on my phone all day long,” Eads said.

Eads said Monday he realizes the toll that these measures have on businesses and workers.

“All of our county judges are trying to make the very best decision for their county,” Eads said. “It’s a dynamic and fluid process.”

Late Monday, Denton County officials said Eads and Denton Mayor Chris Watts would discuss a revised order during a news conference at noon Tuesday at Denton’s Courthouse-on-the-Square.