May 5, 2020      4:12 PM

In leaked audio, Gov. Abbott talks about the way the spread of COVID-19 will increase as Texas reopens

"It's almost ipso facto, the more that you have people out there the greater the possibility there is for transmission," Abbott said in the leaked audio of one of his recent conference calls with lawmakers

Note: The audio can be heard by our subscribers at the end of this story – SB

As he was preparing to once again brief Texans on the state's response to COVID-19, a partial recording of one of his private conference calls with lawmakers surfaced in which Gov. Greg Abbott talked about the way the spread of the disease will increase as his plan is implemented.

Gov. Abbott has been briefing lawmakers and staffers on private conference calls for months, updating them on the way his office is responding to the unfolding public health crisis. In his public statements so far, Abbott has largely focused on the idea that Texas will see an increase in the numbers thanks to increased testing.

“It’s only logical to see there would be an increase and the number of people that test positive,” he said in a news conference just last week. “So just because there may be an increase in the number of people that test positive, that alone is not a decisive criteria.”

But on the recording of his private conference call that appears to be from his discussion with members of the Texas Legislature and Congress on Friday afternoon, what Abbott said was there is no way to avoid an increase in numbers as state government loosens restrictions on the movement of people and allows certain kinds of commerce to restart.

By Scott Braddock

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