TYLER, Texas — Hayley Cox is the owner of Prism Beauty Bar in Tyler. Like millions of business owners nationwide, while she is concerned with safety, she cannot wait for business to reopen.
Texas State Rep. Matt Schaefer says he believes Texas will soon begin to reopen.
"You can see what some of the other businesses in town that are open have done: They've adapted, they've made adjustments," Rep. Schaefer. "And I think we need to give other businesses the ability to make adjustments themselves."
Rep. Shaefer says local government should have more say as to which local businesses must remain closed.
"We are having a low impact to our population from COVID-19. We are having a high impact to the overall health of our local population due to a lot of normal routine health care that is not taking place to a lot of business activity, that's causing severe financial distress in our community," Rep. Schaefer explained.
Dr. John Barrett of LeTourneau University says when restrictions finally reopen, the economy will see an immediate spike.
"You're going to see an immediate bump as soon as they ease upon the restrictions as the people that can go back to work do," Dr. Barrett said. "There will be some businesses, unfortunately, that [will not] survive the transition."
Gov. Abbott says he will announce his plan to reopen the state's economy Friday.