All of the Observer’s Coronavirus Coverage

Everything we’ve written about the coronavirus pandemic in Texas.

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All of the Texas Observer’s Coronavirus Coverage

Here’s everything we’ve written about the coronavirus pandemic. Find our full data tracker here.

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Editorial: Texas Wasn’t Prepared for the Statewide Vaccine Rush

My elderly parents’ experience getting the COVID-19 vaccine highlights problems with Texas’ overall pandemic response.

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Graveyard Shift

As COVID-19 devastates workers unable to stay home, families are left struggling for justice.

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Deaths in ICE Custody Skyrocketed During the COVID-19 Pandemic

A new report shows Texas lead the nation with seven deaths among immigration detainees from 2018-2020.

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Lege in the Time of Coronavirus

An uncontrolled pandemic. An economic crisis. A bruising loss for Democrats. The Texas Legislature is back in session.

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‘Being A Prisoner During COVID Is A Death Sentence’

Death row exoneree Anthony Graves reflects a decade after his release.

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Federal Regulators Have Fast-Tracked Review of Disinfectants That Claim to Kill COVID-19

How one Texas company seized a pandemic-sized opportunity.

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How We Got Here

Texas’ health system has been underfunded, understaffed, and unprepared for years. Here, COVID-19 found the perfect place to spread.

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Eye on Texas: Essential Women

A portrait series by Sarah Wilson explores how women deemed essential workers stay safe during the pandemic.

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I Left My Friends in Prison in a Pandemic. Here’s What It’s Like For Them.

COVID-19 has spiraled out of control in the Texas prison system.

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State Officials Tried to Cut Women’s Health Care During a Pandemic.

It’s a clear reflection of priorities.

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As Schools Reopen, Some Families Face Potentially Life-Threatening Options

Texas has the widest digital divide in the nation.

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5,000 People Contract COVID-19 While In ICE Custody

ICE officials have released some medically vulnerable detainees, but one woman is struggling to get her sick husband out of ICE detention.

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Death in Dalhart

After a farmworker in the rural Texas Panhandle died of complications from COVID-19, his family and federal investigators want answers.

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Mexico Turns To Television And Radio For Remote Learning

The countrywide plan is meant to reach students with limited internet connectivity.

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Portraits of the Pandemic

Stories of how ordinary Texans are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Five Months Later, the State’s Unemployment System is Still Broken for Many Texans

Unemployed Texans are still struggling to get—and keep—their benefits.

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Texas Already Lacked Affordable Child Care. Then COVID-19 Hit.

The coronavirus has temporarily or permanently closed almost half of all child care providers in the state.

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The Coronavirus Pipeline

U.S. deportations of migrants have exported COVID-19 to Guatemala and prompted fear, chaos, and a collapse of already fragile health services.

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One of Texas’ Biggest Nursing Home Operators Beset By COVID-19 Cases and Deaths

New data released by the state health agency provides a glimpse into Texas nursing homes.

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Open and Shut

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens the future of the barbecue joints, taco trucks, bánh mì shops, and country cafes that make up Texas cuisine.

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Telehealth Could be Great, if Texans Had Access to It

Remote health care has the potential to connect patients to doctors safely during shelter-in-place. So why do so many Texans remain disconnected?

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Texas Nursing Home Residents Were Already at Risk. Then COVID-19 Hit.

“We’ve known that infection control has been a problem.”

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COVID-19 is Surging in Rural Texas, Threatening to Overwhelm Local Hospitals

ICU beds are limited and medical providers are falling sick.

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Between Borders

From a doctor stranded in Ciudad Juárez to a shelter closed after an outbreak, COVID-19 is hitting hard along the Texas-Mexico border.

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As Cases Surge, Some People Remain Behind Bars After Making Bail

Electronic monitoring companies refuse to touch coronavirus-positive inmates.

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Texas Relaxed Environmental Enforcement During the Pandemic, State Data Show

TCEQ pursued 20 percent fewer violations of environmental laws than in 2019.

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Promising Results for COVID-19 Patients Treated with Plasma Therapy in Texas

About 20,000 people received plasma treatments nationwide in April, May, and early June.

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The Pandemic Is Just the Latest Threat Refugees in Abilene Face

As workers return to the new normal, they worry about keeping their jobs.

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COVID-19 Has Delayed Programs That Texas Prisoners Need to Get Out

At least 10,500 people have been approved for release but remain in prison.

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In Rural Texas, COVID-19 Contact Tracing is Largely Up to Local Officials, If It Happens at All

“We’re kind of stuck.”

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‘Heroes’ No More: Grocers Are Already Clawing Back COVID-19 Worker Benefits

Kroger revoked its “Hero Pay” in May.

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Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins on Battling COVID-19, and the Governor, as Texas Reopens

Jenkins is “hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.”

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Feeding Refugees on the Texas Border Has Been Tough. Now There’s COVID-19.

The pandemic has made food delivery considerably more complicated.

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Home Wasn’t Safe. Then COVID-19 Made It Seem Like the Only Option.

Some domestic violence shelters are seeing a “disturbing” decrease in clients and callers.”

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Is Texas Inflating Its COVID-19 Testing Numbers by Including Antibody Tests?

Experts say this muddies the data.

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In the COVID-19 Economy, Texas’ Commercial Fishermen Are Barely Treading Water

The tradition of small-scale fishing is at stake.

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How COVID-19 Upended Texas Prisons

Governor Greg Abbott has mostly ignored the pandemic inside the Texas prison system.

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COVID-19 Has Infected Workers at a Tyson Beef Plant in Amarillo, Employees Say

One plant employee has died, workers say.

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DSHS is Excluding Some Prisoners From COVID-19 County Totals

The numbers mask the prevalence of the virus in some rural areas.

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Air Pollution Was Already Killing Us. Then Came the Coronavirus.

By refusing to strengthen particulate matter standards, the EPA is putting more people at risk.

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Will Grocery Workers Still Be ‘Heroes’ When COVID-19 Subsides?

In Texas, grocery employees labor for low wages and few benefits.

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In Rural Counties, COVID-19 Cases are Likely Undercounted

Governor Greg Abbott wants to reopen them anyway.

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Demand for Plasma Therapy Far Outpaces Donations

Texas blood banks and the Red Cross are actively recruiting donors but remain thwarted by a lack of antibody tests.

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Field Hospital Begins Construction in Matamoros Migrant Camp

Medical aid volunteers prepare for the worst while hoping for the best.

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COVID-19 Cases are Growing Rapidly in Areas With Limited Medical Resources

It’s likely that cases may be going untested.

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Mapping the Number of COVID-19 Cases in Texas per Doctor

Many counties with limited medical resources now have COVID-19 cases.

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State Employees Criticize Texas’ Uneven Approach to Worker Safety Amid COVID-19

A slow, patchwork response has jeopardized worker safety.

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COVID-19 Cases Now Tied to Meat Plants in Rural Texas Counties Wracked with Coronavirus

DSHS has offered few details of its investigation.

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Abbott Puts Billionaire Donors, Industry Lobbyists in Charge of Restarting Texas’ Economy

Critics say it’s reckless pay-to-play politics.

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Texas Had a State Office That Could Have Investigated Racial Disparities in COVID-19 Cases

Lawmakers defunded it three years ago.

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ICE Isn’t Reporting All Of The People in Its Facilities Who Have Tested Positive

ICE says it doesn’t have to report contractors.

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Houston Is Ground Zero for a Potentially Lifesaving COVID-19 Treatment

A lack of tests remains a roadblock.

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From Jail to the Streets: One Texan’s Story During COVID-19

The homeless are 11 times more likely to be incarcerated than the rest of the population.

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Greg Abbott’s Power Grab on Bail Reform

State officials are fighting on several fronts to restrict who judges can let out.

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COVID-19 Has Made a Mess of Texas’ Open Government Rules

Government agencies now have carte blanche to operate in secrets.

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Gene Wu on the Coronavirus

How comments from Trump, Cruz, and Cornyn inflame deep-seated prejudices against Asian Americans.

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What One Texan Had to do to Get an Abortion During the Pandemic

Texas is using the COVID-19 pandemic as the latest strategy in their anti-abortion playbook.

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‘I’m in Limbo Here’

Out-of-work Texans are coming face to face with an overwhelmed and antiquated state unemployment system.

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Lessons on the Long Game from Goose Island’s Whooping Cranes

Facing the century’s first global pandemic, cranes might be the sort of collective totem we need.

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Shuttered by the Coronavirus, Texas Art Museums Are Moving Online

The digital world is letting museums flourish.

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A ‘Stay-at-Home’ Order by Any Other Name

As public health experts warned, the time to shut down is before there are confirmed cases.

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‘I Think I’m Gonna Die’

In the Valley, about one in three people have diabetes. They’re at higher risk for COVID-19, but those who rely on dialysis can’t stay home.

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Peter Hotez: Vaccine Development is ‘Critical to the Security of Our Nation’

“It’s every bit as critical as having a military.”

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Migrants Call to Close Detention Centers as COVID-19 Spreads

“What happens next will be determined by actions we take now.”

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Families of Sick Prisoners Plead for Compassionate Release

COVID-19 poses a particular threat to prisoners whose health is already failing.

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In a Pandemic, Poor Defendants Could Pay With Their Lives

COVID-19 lays bare the fundamental inequalities that a cash bond system creates.

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How to Help Your Fellow Texans Endure the Pandemic

Give to your local food bank, donate blood, or support an emergency housing fund.

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Texas Republicans’ Pandemic Performance Is True to Form

Patrick performs for Fox News; Abbott dithers; and Cornyn defiantly refuses to log off.

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COVID-19 Reveals the Urgent Need to House the Homeless

For myriad reasons, the homeless are likely to suffer severe cases of COVID-19.

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COVID-19 is Lurking Along the Texas-Mexico Border

Mexican border cities Matamoros and Juárez both have at least one confirmed case of the virus.

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COVID-19 Could Be a ‘Double Whammy’ for Those in Pollution Hotspots

The Houston area is a particular hotspot.

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Loneliness in the Age of Coronavirus

As a single parent, I was already struggling with loneliness. Then the coronavirus hit.

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The COVID-19 Crisis Points the Way Toward a Better Texas

Once the virus passes, there’s no reason to let the powerful return peacefully to business as usual.

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Abortion Access in the Age of COVID-19

Abortion clinics in Texas rely on traveling doctors. Coronavirus is keeping some of them home.

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Texas Democratic and Republican Parties Spar Over How to Hold Elections During a Pandemic

Primary runoffs are two months from now.

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The Coronavirus Pandemic Exposed Abbott’s Hypocrisy On Local Control

State intervention could be too little, too late.

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How Is COVID-19 Impacting the Immigration System?

Migrants on the U.S. border say they are more afraid of staying in Mexico than COVID-19.

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Some Texas Officials Want to Divert People from Jail Amid Coronavirus Scare

Reformers have been pushing this step for years.

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Coronavirus is Exposing the Faulty Foundations of the Texas Fracking Industry

The oil and gas sector was already having problems.

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Seven Austin Workers on How They’re Scrambling After the SXSW Cancellation

Gig workers reported more than $2 million in lost wages after the festival was called off.

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With Paid Leave Policies, Cities Tried to Prepare for COVID-19

Too many Texas workers can’t stay home when they’re sick. Two years ago, a movement tried to change that.

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Tough Decisions Ahead for School Leaders in Rural Texas

Officials must weigh the health of their students against the health of their communities.

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