As Texas Republican Gov.

Greg Abbott formulated a plan this week to

reopen the world's 10th largest economy, he had to strike a delicate
balance between two opposing forces: a push from the state's powerful
business community eager to get back to work and health professionals
and economists warning that a premature restart could be deadly.

In But those are high points within a sea of inconclusive data about the
spread of coronavirus across Texas. Pressed on the state's lagging testing
capacity Friday, Abbott said he expects a major expansion of the availability
of tests by late April but he declined to set a goal on the number of tests
needed per day.

He did emphasize however that the amount of business openings in May will
hinge on whether the "infection rate continues to decline" and whether
testing capabilities are sufficient contain outbreaks of the virus.

The state's trend line both in cumulative cases and cumulative fatalities

continued to rise this week, according to state health data posted Friday.

Perhaps most notably, the state is still two weeks away from the April 29
date when the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and
Evaluation predicts that Texas' coronavirus deaths and the need for
resources will peak.

"You would hope that we would have a higher level of testing capacity when
the economy does reopen," said Timothy Callaghan, an assistant professor in
the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Texas A&M School
of Public Health. "If you're going to be sending everyone back to work, even
before peak, you risk the chance of the virus spreading—and potentially
spreading quickly."

ound as if Texas will be among the first states ready to throw open its
doors and striking a more prudent tone.

Through the week, as Abbott's public messaging made it sound less likely
that he would announce a grand reopening, he began taking fire from
members of his own party who say he's moved too slowly to reinvigorate
the economy and has been overly deferential to public