The Republican Party of Texas will hold its state convention online, a move requested by the Texas Medical Association in light of a recent spike in COVID-19 cases statewide and in the Houston area.
“We look forward to continuing our important work this week in an online convention,” state party Chairman James Dickey said in a statement after the State Republican Executive Committee voted Monday evening.
The in-person convention was scheduled to begin Thursday at Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner canceled the event late last week, citing health concerns.
TMA for weeks had urged the party to cancel the in-person convention, due to a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases in the area.
“This is just not the time to bring thousands of the party faithful from around the state to an indoor meeting in a county that, as I write, reports more than 18,000 active COVID-19 cases,” TMA President Diana Fite, MD, said in a letter to party leadership dated June 30.
As of July 13, Harris County leads all Texas counties in the number of positive COVID-19 cases with 45,368, according to figures from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). With a few exceptions, the number of new cases in Harris County has surpassed 500 each day since late June, often rising well above 1,000, DSHS figures show. The number of deaths also has jumped substantially over the past week, the numbers show.
Last Updated On
July 14, 2020
Originally Published On
July 14, 2020