âââ The Greensboro News & Record on relaxing COVID-19 restrictions: North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has substantially relaxed COVID-19 restrictions for bars, restaurants, nightclubs and sports venues, among others. But some people still grumble that itâs too little too late. Maybe they should move to Texas? Fresh off a monumental bungling of the stateâs electrical grid that plunged millions of Texans into the dark in bone-chilling cold, Gov. Greg Abbott apparently was looking for what he could screw up next. So Abbott declared victory over COVID-19 in his state, where an average of 7,000 new cases and 232 deaths were being reported daily.