Maverick County Sets New Daily High Record with 32 Positive COVID-19 Cases, Raising Total to 282 Cases
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2020
Both Maverick County and the state of Texas set a new daily high record of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, June 23, 2020, as Maverick County reported 32 new cases while Texas registered 5,489 new cases.
Maverick County’s 32 new positive COVID-19 cases on June 23 raised the total number to 282 cases, announced Rodolfo “Woody” Cardona, Eagle Pass Deputy Fire Chief and Co-Director of the Eagle Pass and Maverick County Emergency Operations Center, at a press conference.
The 32 new positive COVID-19 cases reported on June 23 surpasses the previous daily high record of 31 cases set on June 15, 2020.
Cardona stated that a total of 4,965 people in Maverick County have been administered a COVID-19 virus test with 4,167 negative results, 282 positive results, 516 waiting for test results, 79 have recovered, 201 active cases, two fatalities, nine hospitalized, and the positivity rate increased to 5.6 percent.
Another daily record high set on June 23 is the total number of people hospitalized in Maverick County with nine. Cardona stated that one of the nine patients had to be transferred to a San Antonio, Texas medical facility to receive a higher care of treatment than available at the Fort Duncan Regional Medical Center in Eagle Pass. Cardona added that three of the eight remaining hospitalized patients in Eagle Pass are on ventilators.
In the event Maverick County continues to increase its positive COVID-19 cases as it has been for the past week, there is a real possibility that the surge of new cases might overwhelm the capacity of Intensive Care beds available at the single local hospital in the community.
Cardona strongly encouraged all Maverick County residents to wear face masks in public and to adhere to the social distancing guidelines recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention such as staying six feet apart from other people, wash one’s hands regularly, use hand sanitizer regularly, avoid social gatherings of 10 or more people, and limit travel to essential matters.
Cardona highlighted the new provisions of the City of Eagle Pass and Maverick County Local State of Disaster Declaration Due to Public Health Emergency approved on Friday, June 19, 2020, scheduled to take effect on June 22, 2020, including that 1) all Commercial entities (businesses) in Maverick County providing goods or services directly to the public MUST develop and implement a Health and Safety Policy; 2) the Health and Safety Policy MUST require, at a minimum, that ALL employees and visitors wear a face covering; 3) Commercial entities MUST post the Health and Safety Policy in a conspicuous location visible to all; 4) Failure to develop and implement the Health and Safety Policy required within five (5) Calendar days following June 22, 2020 may result in a fine not to exceed $1,000 for each violation; 6) that all persons 10 years and older SHALL wear a face covering over their nose and mouth when in a public place where it is difficult to keep six (6) feet away from other people or in working areas that involve close proximity with other co-workers; 7) Face coverings may include homemade masks, scarfs, bandanas or a handkerchief; and 8) all people in Maverick County should continue to maintain social distancing of at least six (6) feet while outside their home.
Cardona noted that the new City of Eagle Pass and Maverick County Local State of Disaster effective June 22, 2020 does not require face coverings in the following situations: 1) when exercising or engaging in outdoor physical activities; 2) driving alone or with passengers who are part of the same household as the driver; 3) when doing so poses a greater mental or physical health, safety, or security risk; 4) while pumping gas or operating outdoor equipment; 5) while in a building or activity that requires security surveillance or screening; and 6) when consuming food or drink.
Maverick County Judge David R. Saucedo and Eagle Pass Mayor Luis E. Sifuentes adopted this new Executive Order after Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff approved this measure as an attempt to stop or slow the community spread of COVID-19. The Eagle Pass and Maverick County Executive Order is the same as the one approved by Bexar County. Since Texas can not require people to wear a face mask or impose a civil or criminal fine for not wearing a face mask, the Texas Health and Safety Code does allow governmental entities to require commercial entities (businesses) to establish a Health and Safety Policy that requires customers to wear a face mask inside their place of business.
Like Maverick County, the state of Texas is on fire with the community spread of positive COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, recording a new daily high record of 5,489 positive cases and a total of 4,092 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 on June 23, 2020.
While Governor Greg Abbott continues to publicly declare that there are sufficient hospital beds in Texas to manage the surge of positive COVID-19 cases, many hospital and health care administrators privately are concerned that Texas may any moment reach the tipping point where the total number of hospitalized patients overwhelm the supply of hospital beds, particularly Intensive Care beds. Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas is now accepting adult patients with and without COVID-19 to assist other local hospitals satisfy the burgeoning demand for hospital beds for COVID-19 patients.
Texas has now topped over 120,000 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases with 120,370 cases as of June 23 and 2,200 Texans have died from COVID-19 as the state continues surging with the deadly coronavirus. The positivity rate in Texas has spiked to 9.76 percent. Public health experts proclaim a positivity rate of six (6) percent or less is preferred.
Nationally, twenty-one states are surging with rapid rise of positive COVID-19 cases, including Arizona, California, Tennessee, Arkansas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, and others.
According to the New York Times, the United States has over 2,357,100 (Million) people infected with COVID-19 while 121,177 Americans have died from the lethal coronavirus as of June 23, 2020.
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the leading infectious disease expert and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the United States, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives on June 23, 2020, that the nation is still in the first stage of the COVID-19 pandemic and there is a “disturbing surge” of new cases in southern and western states, including Florida, Arizona, and Texas. Dr. Fauci added “that’s something I’m really quite concerned about. A couple of days ago, there were 30,000 new infections. That’s very disturbing to me.”
On Tuesday, June 23, 2020, the United States reported 33,730 new positive COVID-19 cases, the highest total since April 25. While the Untied States has four percent of the world population, it currently has the most positive cases in the world with over 2.3 million-20 percent of all cases.
