AUSTIN, Texas — After Governor Greg Abbott's announcement Friday afternoon on a multi-phase rollout to reopen Texas businesses, doctors around the state voiced their support.
In a statement, the Texas Medical Association said, "Texas physicians are pleased that Governor Abbott is taking a gradual, science-based approach to reopen the Texas economy safely."
The president of TMA also said he only had one reservation to the process to open: protection of providers in the fight against COVID-19.
“We still need the [personal protective equipment] and we still need the testing and we’re being told those pipelines are opening, but we’re not seeing it yet," Dr. David Fleeger said.
Abbott emphasized the supply for protective equipment is continuing to rise. While the PPE continues to be a tense point between state government and healthcare providers, doctors supported the rest of Abbott's plan, but caution cases of COVID-19 the more the state opens up.
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“Everybody must, must maintain social distancing to the very best they possibly can," Dr. Seth Brener said. "Do not go visit Grandma and Grandpa just yet.”
Brener works in various emergency rooms around Austin and Los Angeles. He said he's glad to see restrictions on elective surgeries loosened as a result of the executive orders.
“Any elective procedures that are potentially life-saving procedures need to get done," Brener said. "You need to get those rolling out, particularly since volumes [of patients] in the Austin areas are so low and procedures need to get rolling.”
Fleeger agreed, many patients may soon need those surgeries that were considered elective in the past.
“There are a good number of patients out there who have not been able to get surgeries that are very important to them and their needs because they weren’t emergent," Fleeger said.
“These have been put on hold unless a true emergent situation/scenario has come in like an acute heart attack or severe [myocardial infarction]," Brener said. "These need to get up and running as soon as possible but as safely as possible as well.”
Both Brener and Fleeger emphasized that while the state may start to reopen businesses, the most effective way to continue flattening the curve is to social distance. When asked if social distancing and wearing masks may become part of American culture after this pandemic passes, Fleeger said those practices will at least need to continue for the foreseeable future.
“It’s a little hard to predict what the new normal’s going to look like but I would say this: until we have a vaccine in place, which most people would estimate will be at least a year, that social distancing will need to occur to some degree," Fleeger said.
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