Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 14, 2020
As the novel coronavirus continues to spread, Texas Motor Speedway will welcome thousands of NASCAR fans this weekend for a race that may be one of the largest gatherings in Texas, if not the country, since the deadly outbreak began.
The crowd will certainly lead to new COVID-19 cases, one virus expert said, but speedway president Eddie Gossage said he was more concerned about the potential for triple-digit heat Sunday than the pandemic. Gov. Greg Abbott’s most recent order restricts outdoor crowds to 10 or fewer, unless organizers get special permission, but motorsports have a specific exemption.
[...] On Monday Tarrant County reported 322 new cases for a total of 18,483. Denton County, where the race track is located, reported 112 new cases. Texas had record numbers of new cases for four consecutive days last week, including Wednesday, when a record 119 deaths were reported.
Gossage wouldn’t say how many fans he expects at the speedway. At 50% capacity, as many as 62,500 fans could show up, but he said the speedway “wouldn’t come close to that.” At one point he used 20,000 as a hypothetical number.
At one point he used 20,000 as a hypothetical number.
As a texan I am begging someone to save us from ourselves. We’re a big state, i stg we are not all like this.
FEMA Sends Texas 14 Mobile Morgues As Coronavirus Death Counts Rise
Local officials in Texas have been agitating for the mobile morgues as death counts rise.
“I am now having to order additional body bags and morgue trailers. People have to understand how real it is,” Barbara Canales, Judge of Texas’s Nueces County, told a Corpus Christi TV station last week.
it’s happening this weekend, July 18-19. there is technically still time to stop it.
