Dallas County Safer-at-Home Order in Effect Until April 30, Could be Extended

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Apr 5, 2020

On Friday, April 3, 2020 Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins clarified that his Safer-at-Home order is in effect until April 30. This came after the commissioner’s court signed off an extension of the county’s disaster declaration until May 20 earlier in the day. This led to confusion about how long the stay at home order would remain in place.

According to members of the commissioner’s court, the extension of both the disaster declaration and Safer-at-Home order were greenlit until May 20. The vote to approve the extension of the disaster declaration was conducted on Friday morning during a special meeting of the Dallas County Commissioner’s Court. At the meeting, Jenkins shared numerous Wuhan virus projection models illustrating a rise in the number of which are expected to peak in the county on April 20.

However, Jenkins clarified on Friday afternoon that the Safer-at-Home orders and the Disaster Declaration are different documents and that the commissioner’s court approved the extension to the Disaster Declaration, although it was still up to him to determine the effective dates of his Safer-at-Home order.

On Twitter, Jenkins revealed that the Safer-at-Home order will now go into effect through April 30. Jenkins noted that he has the power to extend the Safer-at-Home order until May 20 if he has to, since the disaster declaration had been approved until that date.

Jenkins tweeted, “Based on the extension of the Declaration of Disaster granted today, I am extending the Dallas County Safer at Home Order to April 30. The Declaration of Disaster is necessary to provide the tools to lead you through this. The Safer at Home Orders are the rules we ask of you.”

County Commissioner John Wiley Price, who represents the southern portion of Dallas, was the only person who voted against the plan claiming that the restrictions that are currently in effect are “choking” his constituents and recommended that the court allow pawn shops to stay open as an essential business so that people could have easier access to cash.

“We’re going to just kill off an entire community in the next 60 days.” Price declared. “Pick our poison. We either go with COVID-19 and die or we just economically die.”

Certain businesses have been greatly impacted by these closures.

Bar owner Joe Hinkson revealed that he’s lost more than 90 percent of his business.

“I’m livid,” Hinkson stated. “A bar has a short shelf life typically and to survive and prosper and grow in the 10-year period, and be open for 11 years and have something like this happen.”

Texas has taken a relatively lenient approach to the Wuhan Virus by declaring gun stores as essential businesses and not implementing a full-blown lockdown.

However, the more progressive urban centers in Texas will look to find ways to make people’s lives miserable.

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