Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Wednesday he will make an announcement next week about a plan to broadly reopen the state’s economy during the first week of May after early steps taken so far.

“It’s going to be broad-based. We want to make sure we open as many business as possible,” Abbott told Fox Business Network. “However, we want to make sure we do it in a very safe way that does not stoke an expansion of the COVID-19.”

This comes while the second most powerful person under the Governor of Texas is gaining backlash from this recent comments. Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick on reopening the economy: “There are more important things than living.”

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) called for the reopening of his state and the country late Monday, saying there are “more important things than living.”

Patrick said on Fox News’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” that he was “vindicated” after being criticized for saying in March that he thought “lots of grandparents” across the country would risk their survival to keep the country afloat economically.

Last week, Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis, a staunch Trump ally, ordered beaches and parks be reopened. Minnesota’s Gov. Tim Walz reopened some sports stores and said residents could resume outdoor activities like shooting, hiking, golfing, and fishing. On Monday, the Republican governors of three other states said they have no plans to extend shelter-in-place orders beyond late April, when they are set to expire: Tennessee’s Gov. Bill Lee, Georgia’s Gov. Brian Kemp, and South Carolina’s Gov. Henry McMaster.