Texas AG sued the city of Austin on Wednesday after local authorities imposed new restrictions on Covid-19 on dinner services for the New Year weekend.
Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, filed a temporary injunction petition and a temporary restraining order with Travis County District Court against the directive, which limited restaurants to driving, pick up on the sidewalk, take-out and services delivery between 10:30 pm and 6:00 am from Thursday to Sunday.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler and Travis County Judge Andy Brown, both Democrats, introduced the new four-day restriction to limit social gatherings over the holiday weekend after the state reported that record number of hospitalizations and new cases.
In a letter on Wednesday, Paxton said the new directive violated an earlier order from Governor Greg Abbott and instructed both officials to terminate or modify the order.
“Mayor Adler and Judge Brown have no authority to disregard Governor Abbott’s executive orders by closing deals in Travis County and our state capital,” Paxton said in a statement. “The fact that these two local leaders released their orders at night and on the eve of an important holiday shows how much they despise Texans and local businesses.”
The Paxton lawsuit names Adler, Brown, the city of Austin and Travis County as defendants.
Adler said on Wednesday that he consulted doctors, educators and city attorneys, calling the city of Austin in a “critical” state.
“We are now facing our most dangerous growth prospects,” he said during a news conference.
Brown called the request “the narrowest thing we could think of” to stop the spread of the coronavirus over the weekend of the new year.
Dr. Mark Escott, medical director for the city of Austin and Travis County, urged residents to “stay at home as long as possible and not meet with people outside their homes.”
“We are now experiencing widespread and uncontrolled transmission of COVID-19 by the community, especially in circumstances where masking and detachment are not possible, making bars and similar establishments extremely worrying this holiday weekend,” said Escott in a statement. communicated.
Texas recorded a record of almost 12,000 hospitalizations and 27,000 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, according to the state health department’s Covid-19 panel.
As of Thursday, Travis County had recorded a total of 49,648 confirmed cases and 534 deaths, according to the data.
