page_title: COVID-19 pandemic in Texas
section_title: March
hierarchical_section_title: COVID-19 pandemic in Texas / Timeline / March
caption_attribution_description: Texas Air and Army National Guard service members establish at a community based testing facility in Fredericksburg, Texas, April 19, 2020. The Texas Military Department, in tandem with state partners, has established community based testing facilities to provide drive-in COVID-19 screenings to communities not served by a county health department. These facilities will allow Texas to curb the spread of COVID-19. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Charles E. Spirtos/Released)
context_page_description: The COVID-19 pandemic reached the U.S. state of Texas by March 2020. As of August 27, 2020, Texas public health officials reported 5,059 new cases of COVID-19 and 265 deaths, increasing the state's cumulative totals since the start of the pandemic to 597,737 cases and 12,070 deaths, with 4.79 million COVID-19 tests completed to date. During the month of July both the new COVID-19 case rate and the death rate more than doubled in Texas. The 7 day moving average of new cases increased nearly five-fold between the first week of June and the 1st week of August, rising from 1,534 new cases per day to 7,285 cases.
  Prior to March, there were several suspected cases of COVID-19 in the state that tested negative for the virus beginning on January 23. Three Texas airports conducted enhanced screening for the disease in January, with Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport among them also receiving diverted flights from China. The first documented case in Texas was confirmed on February 13 among U.S. nationals evacuated from China to Joint Base San Antonio–Lackland beginning in early February; however, retrospective analyses have suggested a much earlier origin than previously thought.
context_section_description: March 2: Research from Austin Public Health found 68 COVID-19 patients in Central Texas began reporting symptoms dating back to this time. San Antonio Mayor Nirenberg issues a public health emergency after an individual positive for the virus is mistakenly released from quarantine at JBSA–Lackland.
  March 4: The DSHS reports a presumptive positive test result for COVID-19 from a resident of Fort Bend County in the Houston area. A man in his 70s, he is the first known positive case of the disease in Texas outside of those evacuated from Wuhan and the Diamond Princess cruise ship. The patient had recently traveled to Egypt and was hospitalized. DSHS commissioner John Hellerstedt calls the confirmation a "significant development" but that "the immediate risk to most Texans is low."
  March 5: At least eight cumulative cases, including both positive and presumptive positive cases, are identified in the Houston area. The cases involve individuals in the counties of Fort Bend and Harris counties. All individuals with confirmed cases were part of a group that traveled to Egypt in February, including the first confirmed case in Fort Bend County. The travel group rode aboard the Nile River cruise ship MS A’sara. Additional individuals are also investigated as possible carriers in the Houston area in connection with the Egypt trip. The state announces six public health laboratories within its Laboratory Response Network are capable of testing for COVID-19.
  March 6: Mayor Steve Adler of Austin declares a local disaster and cancels South by Southwest for the first time in its history.
  March 8: JBSA–Lackland receives around 100 evacuees from the cruise ship Grand Princess following a localized outbreak on board. Rice University becomes the first university in the state to enact significant cancellations, suspending in-person classes and undergraduate labs during the week in response to an employee testing positive in connection with the viral cluster that traveled to Egypt.
  March 9: The cumulative number of confirmed cases in Texas reported by the DSHS surpasses 10. A resident in his 30s of Frisco in Collin County, a suburb of Dallas, receives a presumptive positive test for the virus after recently traveling to Silicon Valley in California; he is the first case identified in the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. His wife and 3-year-old child later contracted the disease, with the latter among the youngest confirmed to have the virus in the U.S.
  March 10: The first two presumptive positive cases of COVID-19 are reported in Dallas County, composed of a 77-year-old frequent traveler and a close contact. Tarrant County also reports its first presumptive positive case, involving a recent traveler to a conference in Kentucky in late February. Abbott and the Texas Department of Insurance request health insurers and health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to waive COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment costs.
  March 11: Local health officials report a positive test for COVID-19 in Montgomery County; they are identified as the first possible case of community spread—not directly related to travel or known contact with positive travelers—in Texas and in the Houston area. The patient's attendance of a barbecue at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on February 28 is reported as a possible but unconfirmed source of the virus. The city of Houston orders the Houston Livestock Show and Radio to close after announcing an emergency health declaration. Lakewood Church suspends public services within the church and moves its services online. Montgomery Independent School District in the Houston area and Alvarado Independent School District in the Dallas area become the first two public school districts in Texas to temporarily close classes over COVID-19, affecting approximately 12,400 students across 17 schools.
  March 12: After traveling to Barcelona and Paris between March 4–10, a 29-year-old-man becomes the first reported case of COVID-19 in Bell County. Five people test positive for the virus in Dallas County, with one without recent travel history; the 
caption: The Texas National Guard was deployed on March 27 to aid mobile COVID-19 testing
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