Note that I am currently living in NC, so I am not up to speed on where things stand in TX outside of what I am reading on this forum.
That said, as a small business owner the thought of Shelter in Place is a very unpleasant thought. No easy answers at this point, but just need to vent a little and share an interesting article on how SK has handled things by implementing procedures learned during their SARS outbreak in 2015. In short: tracing, testing, and quarantining - the first two of which we have fallen well short up to this point.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/coronavirus-cases-have-dropped-sharply-south-korea-whats-secret-its-success
My frustration is, I may have to shut my business down (we are mostly B2B so still seeing business) primarily because of how we have dropped the ball not only in getting testing in place, but having tests that provide results QUICKLY. This has been on my mind for several days now and is only driven home further by this article.
A full lock-down would certainly slow the progress in the short term, but no leader (local through federal) has stepped up and clearly stated what meaningful measures will have been put in place in the meantime. We can't stay in lock-down indefinitely without destroying the economy. Most reasonable Americans (myself included) are willing to make reasonable sacrifices. But at this point I would not be surprised if we came out the other end of a SIP in only marginally better shape than when we entered and still ultimately having to pay the piper anyway.
Scary at my age that all we have worked for may vaporize virtually overnight which is very likely what will happen if we go to SIP here in NC. I can only empathize with the owners of restaurants, bars, etc. who are already dealing with this.
