Texas
Public Health Emergency Acts Streamline Texas Disaster Response
The Public Health Emergency declared for Texas by US health authorities this month will cut through bureaucratic hurdles to lifesaving care, but disaster prevention efforts are a more efficient use of federal dollars, scholars of health and environmental law said.
Southeast Texas, including Houston, faced back-to-back disasters earlier this month after Hurricane Beryl was followed closely by a powerful heat wave. The storm left more than one million residents sweltering without electricity or air conditioning as heat indexes surpassed 100 degrees, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The sequence of extreme weather was deadly: 15 deaths in Harris County, which includes Houston, had been attributed to Hurricane Beryl as of July 22, local officials said. Seven of those deaths were caused by heat amid power outages due to the storm.
“Often the more serious problems are either the second or the third disaster,” said Robert Verchick, a professor of disaster and climate change law at Loyola University New Orleans and a former Environmental Protection Agency official in the Obama administration. “It’s like a row of dominoes, and not having electricity for a week is a serious public health problem.”
The public health emergency for Texas, declared by the HHS on July 12, followed a major disaster declaration from President Joe Biden that unlocked federal resources to aid recovery efforts.
“The combination of severe heat and limited access to electricity is dangerous, especially for vulnerable populations and those relying on electricity-dependent durable medical equipment and certain healthcare services,” Dawn O’Connell, HHS’ assistant secretary for preparedness and response, said in a statement announcing the agency’s emergency declaration.
Cutting Red Tape
While a major disaster declaration is more “infrastructure oriented,” the public health emergency is focused on “dealing with the people hurt from the storm and dealing with the people hurt from the extreme heat,” said Jean Su, senior attorney and energy justice director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
The emergency declaration is essentially a tool to cut through regulatory red tape that would impede the ability of healthcare providers to respond quickly during a disaster, said Dr. David Lakey, vice chancellor for health affairs and chief medical officer for the University of Texas System.
“There’s a lot of reporting and deadlines and those types of things that get in the way of a hospital being able to respond,” said Lakey, a former commissioner of the state’s health department. “The emergency just takes some of that bureaucratic work off the table for a while for them to be able to concentrate on caring for these individuals.”
Dialysis patients, for example, may have a care provider that’s unable to operate after the hurricane, Lakey said. The emergency declaration would allow them to quickly receive treatment elsewhere, and also to replace supplies they may have lost in the storm, he said.
The emergency declaration unlocks emergency funds and allows HHS to take steps including modifying certain privacy and telemedicine requirements, adjusting Medicare reimbursements, deploying additional personnel, and more.
But Verchick urged officials to invest more resources in preparing for disasters ahead of time, rather than solely reacting once they happen.
“Of course responding to disasters is extremely important, but it’s more important to take actions that prevent the harms to begin with,” he said. “That is money that goes so much further in the prevention stage than it does in the recovery stage.”
Additional efforts to protect against extreme heat would be particularly helpful in predominantly Black and Latino communities, Verchick said. Those places often face disproportionate harm from high temperatures because of policies that have funneled mitigation resources toward wealthier and whiter areas.
The Texas public health emergency is the first such declaration HHS has made this year, though it has twice renewed public health emergencies for wildfire recovery in Hawaii and for the opioid epidemic nationwide. The agency declared five public health emergencies in 2023.
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When it comes to training the doctors and researchers who will staff hospitals, Texas holds its own on the world stage.
Several Texas health and medical institutions landed on U.S. News and World Report’s 2026-27 Best Global Universities list, with three cracking the global top 500 — led by UT Southwestern Medical Center at No. 113.
The list considered 13 indicators and weights to measure global research performance and reputation, ranking the world’s 2,250 top universities.
Here’s a look at how some major public and private health care and medical universities in Texas fared on the list.
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Global Ranking: No. 113.
Location: Dallas, Texas.
Type: Public university.
Baylor College of Medicine
Global Ranking: No. 144.
Location: Houston, Texas.
Type: Private university.
University of Texas Health Science Center — Houston
Global Ranking: No. 324.
Location: Houston, Texas.
Type: Public university.
University of Texas Medical Branch — Galveston
Global Ranking: No. 599.
Location: Galveston, Texas.
Type: Public university.
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Global Ranking: No. 1,871.
Location: Lubbock, Texas.
Type: Public university.
Mateo Rosiles is the Texas Connect reporter for USA TODAY and its regional papers in Texas. Got a news tip for him? Email him at mrosiles@usatodayco.com.
AUSTIN – Texas officials are rolling out a new online hub aimed at helping residents spot and report the New World screwworm, a pest Gov. Greg Abbott says threatens livestock, wildlife, and the state’s rural economy.
Abbott announced the launch of screwworm.texas.gov, an enhanced website housed in the Texas Division of Emergency Management’s Disaster Portal that he described as a “one-stop shop” for information and resources tied to the state’s response.
The New World screwworm poses a direct threat to Texas livestock, wildlife, and our rural economy,” Abbott said. “This new website puts essential tools in the hands of our producers, veterinarians, and families. Screwworm.texas.gov delivers the facts, maps, identification methods, and certification resources Texans need to detect problems early and report cases without delay. Now every Texan has the information to act. Texas will protect our land, our animals, and our way of life from this pest.
According to the governor’s office, the site is designed to provide “actionable and reliable multimedia information” about the New World screwworm, including fact sheets, videos, and educational materials.
The portal includes background information, guidance on how to spot the pest, sample collection procedures, Texas Animal Health Commission New World screwworm zone maps, the U.S. Department of Agriculture case dashboard, links to best practices for livestock and wildlife, and details on registering for a new no-cost New World screwworm Certified Inspector Training.
The governor’s office said state and federal partners are working together to detect, control and contain the spread, and that expanding public outreach and providing clear information is a key part of reducing risk.
Abbott’s office also highlighted actions taken by the governor in response to the pest, including:
- Directing the creation of a joint Texas New World screwworm Response Team
- Joining USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins to announce a $750 million investment in a new sterile fly production facility in Edinburg
- Issuing a statewide disaster declaration ahead of the first detection
- Deploying state resources and activating the State Emergency Operations Center after the first confirmed Texas cases
- Visiting the Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory in Kerrville for a briefing
- Launching a free online training course to certify more inspectors
- Announcing federal funding to strengthen inspection capacity.
Texans are urged to inspect livestock and pets for wounds and report suspected cases immediately, including in wildlife.
For livestock and pets, suspected cases should be reported to the Texas Animal Health Commission’s 24-hour veterinarian call line at 1-800-550-8242.
For wildlife, reports should be made to Texas Parks and Wildlife’s 24-hour biologists’ call line at 512-389-4505. Officials also warn people not to move affected animals.
More information and updates are available at screwworm.texas.gov and screwworm.gov.
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