Texas pauses its reopening amid 'massive outbreak' of coronavirus

Texas is hitting pause on its reopening.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Thursday announced a "temporary pause" of the state's reopening amid a surge of new COVID-19 cases.

"As we experience an increase in both positive COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, we are focused on strategies that slow the spread of this virus while also allowing Texans to continue earning a paycheck to support their families," Abbott said.

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Businesses that were previously allowed to resume operations as part of Texas' reopenings can still do so, however, with the governor saying, "the last thing we want to do as a state is go backwards and close down businesses." Additionally, Abbott announced that Texas will halt elective surgeries in the biggest counties in the state, The Associated Press reports.

Texas on Wednesday reported more than 5,000 new coronavirus cases, leading Abbott to describe the spike as "a massive outbreak of COVID-19 across the state." Now, Abbott says pausing the reopening will "help our state corral the spread until we can safely enter the next phase of opening our state for business."