Maverick County Tops 200 Positive COVID-19 Cases
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2020
Maverick County is in the midst of a surge of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases since Mother’s Day weekend (May 9-10) as the county tops 200 total cases on Tuesday, June 16, 2020, with one new individual testing positive. A second individual from out of town also tested positive, but will be attributed to the total count of his community instead of Maverick County.
Eagle Pass Deputy Fire Chief and Co-Director of the Maverick County Operations Center, Rodolfo Cardona, announced on June 16, 2020 at the joint press conference of the City of Eagle Pass and Maverick County that the Texas Department of State Health Services reported two individuals having tested positive, but one was from out of town.
Cardona stated that a total of 4,072 people have been administered a COVID-19 test in Maverick County with 3,539 negative results, 200 positive results, 333 waiting for test results, 58 have recovered, two fatalities, and one hospitalized as of June 16, 2020. Of the 200 positive cases, 140 people remain active with COVID-19 in Maverick County, said Cardona.
Leopoldo “Polo” Vielma, Maverick County District Clerk and Co-Director of the Maverick County Emergency Operations Center, noted that the 31 positive cases reported yesterday (June 16) are mostly from three families who held gatherings without observing social distancing and precautionary measures such as wearing a face mask. Vielma recommended all residents of Maverick County to strictly observe social distancing, wear face masks in public, wash one’s hands frequently, use hand sanitizer regularly, and avoid gatherings of 10 or more people.
Similarly to Maverick County, the state of Texas is experiencing a rapid rise of positive COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and fatalities since Mother’s Day and Memorial Day weekends. On June 16, 2020, Texas reported a daily high record for the fifth day in a row with 4,098 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases while 46 Texans died from COVID-19 and a record high daily of 2,518 hospitalized Texans. Since Governor Greg Abbott reopened the Texas economy during the peak of the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic on April 29, 2020, Texas initially showed a steady rise in positive cases but picked-up steam after the Mother’s Day weekend until now.
Although Governor Abbott stated at a press conference on June 16, 2020 that there are sufficient hospital beds in Texas to meet the surge of recent cases, hospital administrators and doctors are gravely concerned that the surge of new COVID-19 cases are close to meeting the maximum capacity and the potential for overwhelming the Texas healthcare system is a real possibility if the number of cases continue to surge into July. Mayors of large Texas cities such as San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, Arlington, Grand Prairie, and others wrote to Governor Abbott to allow cities to enforce face masks restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in their cities. Governor Abbott previously removed cities and counties the authority to enforce these restrictions.
Nationally, 21 states are experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, particularly in the south and southwest United States, raising the total number of positive COVID-19 cases to over 2,138,274 (Million) and 117,305 fatalities as of June 16, 2020. Public health experts are predicting 200,000 deaths due to COVID-19 by October 1, 2020 while the nation lacks a national plan to prevent the deadly virus, leaving each city, county, and state to fend for themselves. The United States is in midst of chaos with the COVID-19 pandemic as the Trump White House focuses on the President’s re-election campaign for November 3, 2020. Approximately 1,000 Americans are dying daily from COVID-19 in the United States.
