Collin County issued a stay-at-home order on March 24 that takes effect immediately in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The order will be in place for the next seven days, at which time an extension will be considered, according to Collin County Judge Chris Hill, who announced the details at a news conference at the county courthouse in McKinney.
The order states that all people are ordered to stay home, except for travel related to essential activities.
All businesses, jobs and workers are essential to the financial health and well-being of the local economy, according to Hill. Therefore, he said, they are essential to the financial health and well-being of Collin County residents.
“Persons who are employed need to stay employed,” Hill said. “Persons who lack employment need to gain employment. Businesses that are able to remain open need to remain open.”
Businesses are encouraged to take precautions to prevent the spread of coronavirus, Hill said. When asked by the media about businesses such as a clothing boutique or a bowling alley, Hill said those businesses may still operate if they follow the federal health guidelines for social distancing and gatherings of less than 10 people.
People will still be able to leave their homes for essential activities, including work, shopping and access to health care, Hill said during the press conference. Entertainment activities are not considered essential needs under the order.
In addition, people who are sick or currently experiencing common coronavirus symptoms, such as fever, cough, or shortness of breath, are ordered to stay home until they have not had a fever for at least 72 hours without the use of medicine and until at least 14 days have passed from the time when symptoms first appeared.
Also, If any person in a household has tested positive for the virus, all people in that household are ordered to stay home. Those people are not allowed to travel to work, school or any other function until cleared by a medical professional, according to the order.
Those at higher risk, including people age 65 or order, people in nursing homes or long-term care facilities and those with other high-risk conditions, should stay home as long as the order remains in place, according to the county.
Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney was among the officials attending the news conference.
"We felt really strongly that if every city put out a different message it would just continue to confuse what citizens are supposed to be doing and we would get a higher noncompliance rate," Cheney said. "So we all felt really strongly that we should lock arm-in-arm, we should come up with a solution as a county."
William C. Wadsack contributed to this story.
