四虎影院

The virus has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 U.S. health care workers; others could face lasting mental scars. It's 鈥渢he time when we鈥檙e needed most," one doctor said, "and we鈥檙e burned out.鈥�

The governor said a vaccine could start arriving by mid-December. The state has said health care workers will be the first to receive voluntary vaccinations.

Among the task force鈥檚 recommendations: Officials in Texas should significantly reduce capacity in indoor spaces, including those that are privately owned.

Officials are preparing for the massive undertaking of distributing a vaccine that may require multiple doses and subzero storage temperatures across a state that covers 270,000 square miles and some 170 rural counties.

A professional organization of social workers called the change "incredibly disheartening," while Gov. Greg Abbott's office said it was necessary to conform with existing state law.

State officials are asking doctors, nurses and pharmacists to identify 鈥渃ritical populations鈥� as they predict an initial shortage of coronavirus vaccine doses.

Two new trials in the Houston area are recruiting participants to study whether giving people infusions of blood from recovered COVID-19 patients can help treat early-stage infections or even prevent people from catching the disease.

Budget cuts meant skimpier caches of protective equipment, and Texas' chronic shortage of public health workers has made the response more difficult, experts said.

The changes to the budget proposal come after lawmakers and advocates protested the previous plan would hurt vulnerable Texans.

The Texas Department of State Health Services said it will now rely on a calculation that takes into account the date on which a coronavirus test was administered, rather than when it was reported.

The Texas Academy of Family Physicians is also asking legislators to expand Medicaid insurance coverage to low-income adults and restore funding for a program that studied racial health disparities.

In response to Texas鈥� recently plummeting coronavirus testing numbers and heightened rate of people testing positive, Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday that鈥�