Texas has been focused on reopening responsibly, and our efforts to increase testing capacity and contact tracing efforts have allowed our citizens to safely return to work. 

Because of increased testing, we have seen an increase in positive cases – as to be expected. The great news is, even with increased testing, the positivity rate is down. This means that even though we are testing more people, the percentage of people testing positive is decreasing.

Source: Texas Department of State Health Services

In fact, the positivity rate has decreased 15% since Governor Abbott began reopening Texas, and it’s down 2/3 from its peak in April. Over the weekend, the positivity rate dropped below 5% for the first time since the beginning of April. 

Just as important as positivity rates are COVID-19 hospitalization rates. In my home of Montgomery County, hospitalizations have shown a downward trend since May 1^st. 

Source: Montgomery County Public Health District. 

In the state overall, hospitalizations have not spiked since the state reopened, and there are currently 17,000 available beds. 

Plus, Texas has the lowest death rate per capita of the top ten U.S. states by case count.

Bottom line? While the mainstream media continues to manipulate the statistics and distort facts to misrepresent the situation in Texas, we’ve been able to open up our economy safely, without an increase in positive case percentage.