Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins issued a new set of orders related to the growing COVID-19 crisis Saturday, including the closure of personal grooming services and public gathering places, a ban on all nonessential medical and dental procedures and a 12-roll limit on toilet paper purchases.

The order also places strict social-distancing measures on public places like parks, trails and basketball courts, with the possibility of violators being ticketed, Jenkins said.

“We’ve got to move from selfishness to sacrifice,” he said.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins speaks at a press conference updating an amended order for the COVID-19 response at the Dallas County Administration Building in Dallas on Saturday, March 21, 2020. (Vernon Bryant/The Dallas Morning News) (Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer)

The order, which takes effect at midnight Saturday, continues through April 3.

It closes all hair, nail and beauty salons and massage and tattoo parlors, as well as fitness facilities and public gathering places such as bars, taverns, theaters and bowling alleys.

Nursing homes are also prohibited from allowing anyone other than essential visitors from entering their facilities.

Jenkins said the limit on toilet paper purchase was developed in consultation with retailers to control dispensation of a product that has become a target of hoarding despite a stocked supply.

“This is not a supply chain problem,” he said. “We, and by that I mean shoppers, are the problem.”

Jenkins implored the community to think collectively about the situation, particularly those at high-risk or with fewer resources at hand.

“There are people who have a hard time getting to the store who are older or immuno-compromised, and they get there and the items that they need aren’t there,” he said. “And that’s just wrong.”

Jenkins spoke at a sparsely populated press conference, with members of the press intentionally placed at safe distances from each other. He was accompanied by county health and human services director Dr. Philip Huang, who addressed the ban on nonessential medical and dental procedures.

Those decisions, Huang said, will be left to medical professionals to determine on a case-by-case basis, with services such as teeth whitening and cosmetic surgeries likely needing to be delayed until later dates.

“We need to protect those resources for what may come,” Huang said.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins speaks at a press conference updating an amended order for the COVID-19 response at the Dallas County Administration Building in Dallas on Saturday, March 21, 2020. (Vernon Bryant/The Dallas Morning News) (Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer)

With states such as California and New York enacting or considering stay-at-home orders, Jenkins warned that “if the curve doesn’t flatten soon, that’s where large chunks of this country, and this state, could be headed.”

Jenkins also called on local manufacturers to consider producing the masks and ventilators that he foresees being in dire need given patterns developing elsewhere and the apparent shortage that exists.

“If our first-responders get sick, there’s no one else to take care of the community,” he said.

Jenkins did strike one positive note, noting that Dallas County first responders will on Monday receive a shipment of hand sanitizer produced by Lewisville’s Bendt Distillery, which like other distilleries nationally has begun making the hard-to-find item using first-run distillate that would normally be discarded or used for cleaning floors.

Both he and Dr. Huang spoke to the need to “flatten the curve” as the virus spreads community-wide, decreasing the chance that a rapid caseload will overwhelm medical facilities and risk a higher number of fatalities.

“We’re going to see more deaths from this virus,” Jenkins said, “It’s going to get worse before it gets better, but we’re trying to everything we can to minimize it. Other counties need to step up. Together, we can flatten the curve, but it takes all of us.”