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COVID-19 exposed deadly shortcomings in Texas’ ability to protect and inform its citizens, despite years of warnings from experts who said state leaders needed to prepare for the next pandemic. An investigation by the Houston Chronicle found that officials dithered while nearly a million people gathered at the Houston Rodeo in the early days of the outbreak. By the time health officials learned of a confirmed infection, the virus had already begun spreading out of control. The reporting revealed that n​early three dozen local COVID patients said their symptoms preceded the Houston region’s first confirmed case. That story demonstrated how a cascade of failures, including testing shortages in the first critical days, allowed the virus to spread unchecked.