Collin County revokes shelter-in-place that allowed non-essential businesses to stay open
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Collin County revoked its shelter-in-place order Tuesday that previously allowed all businesses to remain open despite concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.
County Judge Chris Hill rescinded the order after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott passed an executive order Tuesday that mandated the closure of non-essential businesses, such as gyms, tattoo and piercing studios, cosmetology salons, and dining-in at restaurants and bars.
Services that are not deemed “essential” should operate remotely, according to the order.
Hill’s original order, passed on March 24, allowed all businesses to stay open as long as customers and employees followed rules such as maintaining a 6-foot distance from others and having only 10 people inside a business.
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On Tuesday evening, Hill issued an executive order revoking the county’s shelter-in-place, saying that Collin County must follow Abbott’s provisions.
Collin County’s order has come under fire from residents and officials from other counties. At a press conference on March 26, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins encouraged Collin County commissioners to join the region in issuing consistent shelter-in-place orders that shut down non-essential businesses.
Jenkins also tweeted his support of McKinney Mayor George Fuller, who passed a shelter-in-place for his city that went further than the county’s.
McKinney’s shelter-in-place created stricter provisions than Collin County’s county-wide rule, and Fuller ordered non-essential businesses to close.
A resident sued Fuller over the city’s shelter-in-place order, saying it went too far and was in conflict with the county’s more lenient order.
On Tuesday, a judge denied the resident’s legal challenge to McKinney’s shelter-in-place order.
On Monday, Collin County commissioners extended the county-wide stay-at-home order to last as long as the state-declared emergency is in effect, but did not revise the order in any way.
Fuller said Tuesday the commissioners’ refusal to change the order frustrated him.
“I was so disappointed in the conversation that took place,” Fuller said. “They said, ‘We only have two choices, to approve this or not. I wish we had more.’ That wasn’t your only choice. The choice was the entire universe of what you can change. That was very frustrating.”
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