Statement Attributable to Bob Harvey, President and CEO, Greater Houston Partnership
While we in the Houston area have seen considerable improvement since January in terms of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, and we are pleased that the three approved vaccines are beginning to reach the most at-risk populations, we should recognize that the majority of the regional population is still at risk of contracting the virus.
We believe that our masking and social distancing behaviors are helping drive down the prevalence of the virus even as we see an increasing presence of the worrisome variants. We have been following the advice of health care professionals throughout the pandemic and believe it is simply too early for us to forgo these actions.
We at the Partnership encourage Houstonians to stay the course, continue masking and social distancing, and we encourage customer-facing businesses to continue to require masks and limit crowding. Let’s continue to be responsible, with or without state requirements.