LATEST: Two new coronavirus cases confirmed in Bexar County

Texas and San Antonio officials took significantly stronger measures Monday to prevent a major outbreak of novel coronavirus — even closing the doors of the Alamo.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg put tighter restrictions on gatherings in the wake of a fourth travel-related coronavirus case in San Antonio, the latest a doctor at University Health System.

Gov. Greg Abbott said Texas would significantly ramp up its ability to test people for COVID-19 this week.

Also Monday, restaurants and department stores drastically cut their hours. And Regal movie theaters turned their projectors off indefinitely.

Nursing homes and long-term care facilities are prohibiting all visitors. Parents can no longer go inside day care centers.

Even churches, hospitals and grocery stores — exempt under Nirenberg’s order — are severely limiting public access to avoid unnecessary risk of exposure to the virus.

On Monday afternoon, Alamo officials unexpectedly posted on Facebook that the Shrine of Texas Liberty would be closed “until further notice” — where hours earlier visitors huddled in long lines waiting to visit the historic fort.

In continuing efforts to stave off panic, elected leaders touted new measures to get a better grip on how widespread the virus is and isn’t. At a news conference in San Antonio, Abbott said he expects that more than 10,000 people a week will be tested as government and private health care providers increase their testing capacity. San Antonio opened the state’s first mobile testing site last week.

Now Playing:

More than 200 Texans had been tested for the virus as of Friday, Abbott said, and officials are testing 300 more.

“By the end of this week, everyone who needs a COVID-19 test will be able to get a COVID-19 test,” he said.

On ExpressNews.com: Get the latest update on coronavirus and a tracking map of U.S. cases

As a result, “you’re going to see an exponential increase in the number of people who test positive on a daily basis,” Abbott said.

But not just anyone can get tested. Health care workers, first responders, Texans older than 65 and those showing symptoms beyond a cold or flu who require hospitalization will get first priority.

“You can’t just drive up like you would drive up to Whataburger and order a cheeseburger. You can’t drive up to this and order a COVID-19 test,” Abbott said.

Meanwhile, the Texas Health and Human Services Department issued its most drastic limits yet, prohibiting all visitors to nursing homes and long-term care facilities and limiting hospital visitors to just one family member per patient. Exceptions will be made for end-of-life or emergency room situations.

The agency also ordered that all children be picked up and dropped off outside the nearly 17,000 public and private child care facilities statewide. No one other than staff and children are allowed inside, and no family-style meals can be served.

In San Antonio, Nirenberg signed the new public health emergency order Monday, prohibiting public and private gatherings of more than 50 people. Previously, the local limit was gatherings of more than 500 people.

While the prohibition limit is set at 50, the order strongly encourages an even lower bar of 10.

Both measures are in line with recommendations handed down by President Donald Trump and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Those who violate the order could be subject to civil penalties and, possibly, fines.

“We are going to stay ahead of this curve,” Nirenberg said in an interview for the San Antonio Express-News’ Puro Politics podcast. “I think that’s the way we ultimately delay and contain the virus as best we can, is that we don’t lag behind the best recommendations — and be overprepared if necessary.”

Cities including Dallas, Los Angeles and New York have mandated that bars close and restaurants offer take-out only. Nirenberg said he isn’t pushing such a measure so far.

“It’s too early to say where those restrictions might end up,” Nirenberg said. “But what we want to do is make sure we’re overprepared, not underprepared.”

Earlier Monday, University Health System reported that one of its doctors tested positive for COVID-19. The doctor has been quarantined at home for the past several days, system spokeswoman Elizabeth Allen said. The case is travel-related, just like the other three already reported.

“We are currently tracing potential contacts and putting staff who have been in contact on 14-day quarantine,” Allen said. “At this point, we have about a dozen hospital staff members quarantined after contact with this physician.”

While all four likely contracted the virus while they were traveling outside San Antonio, Nirenberg said on the podcast, “We can no longer assume that the virus is not present in our community.”

“I think we would be blessed if that wasn’t the case,” Nirenberg said on the podcast. “But we have to maintain a posture as if it’s already spreading in our community, with or without data to prove it.”

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio officials confirm third case of COVID-19

USAA reported that one of its employees Sunday afternoon contracted the virus, but it wasn’t clear whether that employee did so while traveling. That person is being treated out of state and isn’t counted as a San Antonio case.

The San Antonio cases don’t include any of the evacuees who came here from cruise ships.

Several evacuees — the exact number has not been made public but it’s believed to be about a dozen — who have the virus remain hospitalized at the Texas Center for Infectious Disease, including one person who just arrived several days ago. His diagnosis was made public Saturday.

There are still 134 other evacuees in quarantine at Lackland who have shown no symptoms.

Some of those in quarantine at Lackland were sent home over the weekend. All were transported under quarantine conditions, said Joey Smith, a CDC spokesman. The patients’ state of record then took over quarantine responsibilities, he said.

Two people from Oklahoma were driven back by bus Saturday. Eleven others, including a couple from Florida and passengers from Indiana, Wisconsin and Kentucky, were flown together Sunday to Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Georgia before being sent on to their homes elsewhere across the country.

“They do maintain a quarantine from here to their home of record, but I wouldn’t know the details or logistical aspects of that for restaurants or meals,” Smith said.

The City Council will get an update on efforts to combat the virus at a meeting Wednesday. The council is expected to vote Thursday on a 30-day extension of the mayor’s emergency declaration.

City Councilman Manny Peláez, along with his wife and two children, are in self-quarantine after returning Sunday from a trip to Colombia — where 22 cases have been reported. None of the family members has shown symptoms.

Peláez said customs officers at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport asked him and his family only where they had been and whether they felt OK. Officials with the Homeland Security Department have been criticized for a lax screening process for travelers returning from overseas.

All council committee meetings have been canceled except a Tuesday meeting of the Audit and Accountability Committee.

Joshua Fechter is a staff writer covering San Antonio city government and politics. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFreports