March 21, 2020 The Honorable Greg Abbott 1100 San Jacinto Boulevard Austin, TX 78701 Sent via email: luis.saenz@gov.texas.gov Dear Governor Abbott, First, we want to thank you for your steadfast leadership on behalf of all Texans as we do our parts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the mayors of Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington, the undersigned are North Texas healthcare leaders who are concerned about the abilities of hospitals and our communities to respond to the spread of COVID-19. During this unprecedented time, we are reaching out collectively because we strongly believe that now is the time to act swiftly to ensure our healthcare systems and first-responder infrastructure maintains a level of readiness and the capacity to support the Texans who will be infected by COVID-19. As such, we respectfully request that you consider issuing mandatory shelter-in-place orders for the State of Texas, or at minimum, that you very strongly recommend “Safer at Home” directives fashioned in a similar nature to those implemented in New York and California. While the temporary economic ramifications of such decisions weigh heavily on us, we know that public health must be our primary concern. In addition, we believe a statewide approach to limiting nonessential business or commerce -- rather than allowing a patchwork of regulations in neighboring cities and counties -- is imperative to slowing the spread of COVID-19, which does not stop at county lines or city limits. But we also understand that Texas is an incredibly diverse state, and that urban and rural areas may require different sets of rules specific to the challenges faced by both. Our recommendation for statewide shelter-in-place directives are based upon our healthcare system’s ability to handle volume surges in our hospitals. It is imperative that we work to reduce deaths and the number of infected people and try to avoid the outcomes of COVID-19’s spread experienced by some other communities, which have lost to quarantine many frontline medical professionals and first responders. We must do all that we can now to protect our patients, our healthcare professionals, and our first responders so we can save lives and restore the economic vibrancy of our cities and our great state as quickly as possible. Again, we thank you for your leadership through these trying times. We are confident that Texans have the toughness, the generosity, and the resilience to flatten the curve of COVID-19’s spread, and we want you to know that we stand ready to support you in this difficult decision. Sincerely, Mayor Betsy Price City of Fort Worth Dennis Shingleton District 7 Fort Worth City Council Mayor Eric Johnson City of Dallas Brian Byrd District 3 Fort Worth City Council Michael Sanborn, President President Baylor Scott & White All Saints - Fort Worth Barclay E. Berdan Chief Executive Officer Texas Health Resources Mayor Jeff Williams City of Arlington Robert Earley President & CEO JPS Health Network Michael R. Williams, DO, MD, MBA President University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth Rick W. Merrill President & CEO Cook Children’s Health Care System Jyric Sims, FAHCE CEO Medical City Fort Worth Stephen Love President and CEO Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council Keith Argenbright, MD Director Moncrief Cancer Institute Douglas Hooten, MBA Chief Executive Officer MedStar Mobile Healthcare Veer D. Vithalani, MD, FACEP, FAEMS Interim Medical Director MedStar Mobile Healthcare David Mansdoerfer Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Center Diana Cervantes, MS, DrPH, CPH, CIC Director, MPH Epidemiology Program University of North Texas Health Science Jim Davis Chief Fort Worth Fire Department Ed Kraus Chief Fort Worth Police Department