Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s cautious, dispassionate response to the coronavirus pandemic has frustrated Texans looking for more urgency as the state faces its biggest public health crisis since smallpox a century ago.

While other governors hold daily briefings for the public, with details on everything from the number of hospital beds and ventilators to heart-rending accounts of those who have died from the disease, Abbott’s public addresses are fewer and shorter. He keeps his emotions firmly in check when talking about Texans who have been “lost” to COVID-19.

Through it all, Abbott has never lost the steady, calm veneer he developed over two decades in the judiciary — first as a trial judge in Houston, then as a justice on the Texas Supreme Court and as attorney general.

“He plays defensively instead of offensively,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.

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The Texas Democratic Party, meanwhile, is trumpeting that Abbott “continues to mismanage the coronavirus crisis every single day.”

The party says Abbott was too slow in closing restaurants and bars and in issuing a statewide order to get people to stay home.

“Texas Republicans continue to downplay and mismanage the coronavirus pandemic,” party spokesman Abhi Rahman said. “Texans deserve thoughtful leaders that are ready to do whatever it takes to keep us safe.”

After weeks of stalling, Abbott issued a statewide stay-at-home order Tuesday, behind 30 other states. Friday, he disclosed that Texas has 8,700 ventilators for acute patients — again, weeks after that count was made public in other states. He still hasn’t said how many ventilators Texas might need.

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Yet Jillson says Abbott’s approach seems to be working: Abbott is getting mostly good marks for having a steady hand at the wheel and tamping down potential panic, even as some worry that he’s not being aggressive enough.

“His career is built around fact and analysis and a dispassionate ruling,” Jillson said.

A calculated approach

Abbott has in the past acknowledged that his work as a judge shaped his approach to being governor.

“A judge presides over legal disputes, and, the fact of the matter is, you have lawyers on each side representing different interests, and 99 percent of the time those interests work themselves out and the judge never really has to get involved,” Abbott said in a 2017 interview with the Austin American-Statesman.

“The same is true in the Capitol,” Abbott said. “You have legislators that will have different interests, and 99 percent of the time they will come together and work things out without the judge or the governor needing to get involved.”

Republican leaders say Abbott has been careful in measuring the repercussions of each move.

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House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, said he sees Abbott in the middle of a historic crisis calmly trying to strike the right balance. He defended Abbott’s actions, saying that while Texas was behind New York in some instances — such as the order to close dine-in restaurants and bars, Abbott was actually faster than New York when you consider the number of coronavirus cases each state had when the shutdowns occurred.

He said his data show that Abbott was instituting restrictions when Texas had a fraction of the cases New York did when that state took similar action.

Still, the contrast in Abbott’s style at briefings when compared with other governors around the nation is clear.

On Tuesday, as Texas watched its number of coronavirus patients nearly double from four days earlier and the death toll jump to over 40, Abbott took to the microphone loaded with praise for residents, saying they were making “tremendous strides” and following his advisory to stay home as much as possible. He made one passing mention of the 41 Texans who were “lost” and did not provide any further detail on those deaths.

“Social distancing is working,” Abbott concluded.

While numbers of cases and deaths climbed, Abbott tried to inject a positive note that “just 11 percent” of those tested positive are being hospitalized.

Missing from the 27-minute briefing was the grave tenor that Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, took to his constituents that same day.

At the start of his 48-minute briefing, Hogan talked about a 1-month-old infant testing positive, with a firm warning that it wasn’t just older Americans facing the deadly disease. His speech stressed that deaths had tripled in his state in just a week and that “it’s going to get considerably worse.”

In Massachusetts on the same day, Gov. Charlie Baker, also a Republican, began his briefing with a jarring reminder of the “gut-wrenching loss” of 13 people who had died at a senior citizen home for veterans because of the virus, causing him to choke up before issuing a series of orders extending that state’s stay-at-home order.

“We are about to enter what will be the most difficult period associated with this particular virus,” Baker said in blunt New England fashion.

Abbott meanwhile has avoided any personalizing of the dead. His tone stayed the same Friday, as the number of deaths in Texas doubled again to 91. Abbott noted the number and moved on.

‘Fully prepared’ for hospital needs

Bonnen said different governors have different styles. Is New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo more in your face, like a New Yorker? Sure. But he said Abbott is striking the right tone for Texans by staying calm in a crisis and not being dramatic.

Texas Republican Party chairman James Dickey said Abbott’s approach lends itself to reducing potential panic for people when they are already unsettled.

“It is important at a time like this that a real leader is calm and reasoned and is able to project that,” Dickey said.

Abbott’s reassuring approach was again evident Friday. While Cuomo had emphasized to New Yorkers that they do not have enough beds or ventilators to deal with the crisis, Abbott was all about telling the public that Texas is well positioned.

“We are fully prepared for the hospital needs of Texans as we continue to respond to the coronavirus in the state of Texas,” Abbott said.