I could swear he signed an executive over on April 17 2020 opening Texas back up. Am I incorrect ?
Are you saying that is incorrect ? Are you also saying he didn’t shut everything down in June ?
He put in place an order to do a phased reopening in April 2020 on the then-cited premise that the lockdown was about preventing the health care system from being overwhelmed. It always was going to be data-dependent. In June, he reinstituted the shutdown on bars and restaurants went down to 50% capacity, but I don't believe things ever went to a full lockdown again.
Schools have been open in-person (with virtual options) in Texas for the whole academic year, subject to district-specific decisions on how to handle things. Texas has incredibly diverse constituents and geographies ... everything from some of the biggest metros in the country to some of the most rural areas anyone could imagine. A lot of times, things are reported nationally as "Abbott opens everything up!" when the facts are more nuanced and all that has happened is that the statewide restrictions were ended or loosened, subject to local authorities still being able to keep things tighter. (It hasn't been like that on everything, though, and he has been at odds with the city of Austin on some aspects of the COVID-19 response.)
I'm not making any arguments about reopening or not. That's been going on for 14 months or more, and I appreciate various perspectives on the issue. The approach in Texas just has been a bit more nuanced than "full lockdown" or "free for all," and he definitely didn't just throw open the whole state in April 2020, only to then lock it down for 6 months a few months later, as one may have read your post to imply.