Dallas Hands Out 37 COVID-Related Code Compliance Citations
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - When it comes to slowing the spread of the coronavirus, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins rejects Governor Greg Abbott's argument that local governments have adequate tools to make sure businesses and residents comply with state protocols.
Jenkins said Monday, "As the Governor well knows, the ability to follow what the doctors are telling us will keep us safe and stopping things before they happen rest on the Governor. The city is left with waiting to see if there is violence, illegal drugs, occupancy violations with bail to do things and then depending on what those violations are, they're likely left in a situation of its occupancy of writing a ticket."
In the city of Dallas, Code Compliance Manager Paul Ramon said Monday, Nov. 23, between March 17 - November 19, there have been 21,957 code compliance cases addressed related to COVID-19.
Of those, 15,456 complaints were proactive cases generated by the city's inspectors and 6,501 complaints were reactive and generated by complaints called into 311.
Ramon said there've been just 37 citations because he says most businesses when contacted, complied.
"The last time we issued a citation was in July. The large portion of the citations that were written, which was about 94% of them were March, April and May during the onset of the COVID endemic."
Judge Jenkins and his public health committee have said they want inside-dining at restaurants stopped for now.
They also want all bars to close, even though the state allows them to operate if they sell a certain percentage of food. They also want large indoor gatherings for entertainment scaled back.
But that won't happen.
Under Governor Abbott's executive order, openings are scaled back when a region's COVID-related hospitalizations reach more than 15% of total hospital capacity for seven consecutive days.
As of November 22, it was 13.8%.
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