Metro

4Reopening Soon? Tarrant County Commissioners come to a decision. By Edward Brown

6Hugo’s Way This Fort Worth ISD product can’t stop believin’. By Ken Wheatcroft-Pardue

Barbecue via Mexico Accepting online orders only, Hurtado’s is well worth logging on for. By Laurie James 15

Livestream Life The Unlikely Candidates, Danni & Kris, Brandin Lea, and Sam Anderson are just some of the heavy hitters who’ve come to a computer near you. By Jeff Prince 17

Metro Static . . . . . . 4 Feature Stuff Stage 15 17

18 Eats Music Hearsay . . . 17 Last Call 19 Classifieds 20 Back Cover

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METROPOLIS

Not Right Now Tarrant County needs to remain as is until COVID-19 trends downward.

BY ANTHONY MARIANI

Don’t tell me I’m not desperate, because I am. Like most of the businesses that our readers know and love, the Weekly is small. And like most of them, we also applied for forgivable loans from the federal government. We fit the chief criterion: We do not have more than 500 employees in our building. After our recent layoffs, we are down to seven plus some trusty offsite freelancers. We define the “S” in the alleged “Small Business Administration,” the federal organization that oversaw the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The $350 billion package was intended to help “small” businesses. What we did not know is that the SBA has a funny definition of the term “small.” The winners of the PPP sweepstakes were lots of monster corporations. The company that owns the Ruth’s Chris Steak House chain received a $20 million payout despite possessing $86 million cash on hand and recently furloughing “a significant number” of field and office team employees, the company said. The heartwarming news is that the chief executives, martyrs to the core, are taking a pay cut, going from a bajillion dollars a year to only a gazillion.

As legally required, more than 70 publically traded companies reported receiving money from the program. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) was outraged, telling the Washington Post that “companies that are not being harmed at all by the coronavirus crisis have the ability to receive taxpayer-funded loans that can be forgiven. ... I am concerned that many businesses with thousands of employees have found

Static

County Joins Guv in Reopening Plan Visitors to the fifth floor of the Tarrant County Administration Building were checked for cold and flu symptoms before being admitted to the Commissioners Court meeting Tuesday. The morning gathering opened with a briefing lead by Dr. Vinny Taneja, Tarrant County Public Health Director.

“Texas is No. 4 [in the country] at 190,000 cases,” he said during a slideshow presentation. We have 1,333 positive cases in Tarrant County and “three more deaths to report.”

The public health message for Tarrant County residents remains the same, he continued.

“Stay at home,” he said. “You don’t need to be out unless you are performing a critical function. When you are out, the guidance is to wear some kind of facemask. Wash your hands, cover your cough, stay home if you are sick, and seek medical care if you are seriously sick.”

Commissioner Roy Brooks asked Taneja how his department will know when Tarrant County COVID-19 cases peak.

“That’s a good question,” Taneja replied. “There are several ways to look at it. One of the easiest is to look [for guidance from] our federal plan. The number of cases reported should be on a downward trend for 14 days. That’s a good indicator. You can’t tell when you are at the top, but you can see a downward curve.”

Topping the agenda was a vote to amend the county’s ongoing executive order, which was first enacted on March 27. The order, which largely mirrors Fort Worth’s shelter-in-place order, calls for the temporary shuttering of nonessential businesses and adherence to social distancing guidelines.

County Judge Glenn Whitley said, “What we are doing with the changes to this order is bringing this in line and in compliance with the governor’s orders.”

Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order allows for the resumption of elective medical procedures under new guidelines. Retail stores will be able to service customers under social distancing guidelines this Friday.

The changes to the county orders were largely perfunctory. The state-level guidelines supersede local orders. Whitley did hint that Tarrant County would be taking steps in the near future to work under the state directives to open up businesses even as several public comments

urged against opening businesses too

soon. loopholes to qualify for these loans meant for small businesses. Unfortunately, when it comes to the PPP, millions of dollars are being wasted.”

Though we Weeklyfolk are down with PPP, we have not heard back about our submission and, honestly, do not expect to. As lawmakers consider another multibillion-dollar round of forgivable loans, or PPP, we are prepared to go through the rigmarole all over again. We will marshal hopefulness to keep our spirits up. While applications are on a first-come/firstserved basis, there is a pecking order of industries, according to the SBA. At the top of the recent awards was “Construction,” followed in descending order by “Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services,” “Manufacturing,” “Health Care and Social Assistance,” and “Accommodations and Food Services.” Down near the bottom, right below “Educational Services” but above “Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation” and “Mining,” that’s where you’ll find “Information,” which I’m supposing includes local rags. We Weeklyfolk can only hope, because as a non-divisive, nonself-enriching, real national leader once said, “Keep hope alive!”

More than staying in business, we hope the curve starts trending downward soon because we’re big fans of existing life and aren’t really appreciative of needless death. In this endeavor, we will also marshal hope, because the outlook isn’t great. The low numbers recently reported by the Tarrant County Health Department –– three straight days of single-digit cases after 11 consecutive days of nearly 40 or more –– might be a mirage. County officials said the low numbers could be due to a temporary lag in reported lab results. As of Tuesday, April 21, Tarrant County has confirmed 1,249 COVID-19 cases, including 208 recoveries. As testing increases, as it is supposed to later this month or by early May, according to Gov. Greg Abbott, we can expect more cases, more recoveries, and certainly more bad news. The county also reported its 39th COVID-19-related death on Tuesday. Texas ranks near the bottom of the country in testing totals.

The only way the curve is going to start flattening or better is if we Texans

Whitley (center): “We are staying in step with the governor while looking to put the different sectors of the economy back to work.”

“When we started this,” Whitley said, “we put the restrictions in place to make sure we didn’t fill up our hospitals to the point where they had to close. I think we have been successful with that. I do believe that we need to begin a parallel track. We have the economy, business, and health. We have been primarily, if not exclusively, on the health front. Now, we have to begin to discuss and think about how to open businesses back and new ways that we will operate those businesses to make sure that we don’t reignite the spread of this virus. We are two to three weeks, maybe four weeks, away from beginning to lessen those restrictions. We are staying in step with the governor while looking to put the different sectors of the economy back to work.”

The city said it is waiting for Abbott.

“The city will be waiting until Gov. Abbott announces his plans for reopening on April 27 before considering any changes to the current declaration,” the city attorney said.