Sixty-five Democratic Texas House members penned a letter Tuesday urging Gov. Greg Abbott to issue a statewide stay-at-home order in the face of the intensifying coronavirus crisis.

“We recognize a statewide order of this magnitude will have an unprecedented impact on Texans and their livelihoods; we did not come to this decision lightly,” the letter reads. “Each and every one of us are fully prepared to provide employees, employers, and families the necessary relief and support such an order will require. However, despite the hardship, the best science we have is clear that this is the best way forward for our state and our country.”

Abbott, who is scheduled to give an update on the state's response at 2:30 Tuesday afternoon, has resisted calls to do so, saying the decision needs to be up to local leaders and pointing to parts of the state that have not yet been hit hard with infections.

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“Local officials have the authority to implement more strict standards than I as governor have implemented in the state of Texas, "Abbott said Sunday. "If they choose to do so I would applaud them for doing so, but at this time it is not the appropriate approach to mandate that same strict standard across every area of the state, especially at a time when we are yet to see the results coming out of my most recent executive order."

Pressure has been mounting, however, as more and more of the state’s largest cities and counties make the move. In the last few days, cities and counties in the Austin, Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth and San Antonio areas have issued orders requiring residents to stay home.

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The Texas House members join a growing chorus of state and local leaders calling for more assertive action on the part of the governor. The Dallas and Forth Worth mayors and other officials and health care executives sent a letter to Abbott on Saturday asking for the same.

The lawmakers wrote that they agreed with them and other hospital officials who say the state is ill-prepared to handle an influx of COVID-19 patients in addition to the regular flow of emergency patients. They said the state needs more time to acquire more COVID-19 tests, personal protective equipment, ventilators and hospitals beds and to do more research and ultimately to protect Texans’ and health professionals lives.

“In order to flatten the curve and give us time to win this war, we need to take immediate action,” they wrote. “We know that this can work if we act appropriately.”