Maverick County Deaths from COVID-19 Rise to 26 with 10 New Victims During Week of July 19-24, 2020
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2020
With one remaining day of reporting COVID-19 deaths for the week of July 19-24, 2020 as of press time, Maverick County is experiencing its highest number of deaths from COVID-19 in a single week as a total of ten local citizens succumbed to the deadly coronavirus in the midst of a raging surge of infections afflicting the community as well as the state of Texas and the United States.
On Thursday, July 23, 2020, Eagle Pass Mayor Luis E. Sifuentes announced at a press conference that three new deaths associated with COVID-19 were reported in Maverick County by the Texas Department of State Health Services, bringing the total to ten for the week of July 19-24, 2020 and 26 overall since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sifuentes expressed his deepest condolences to the families of the three newly deceased persons from COVID-19.
Also on Wednesday, July 22, 2020, Eagle Pass Assistant Fire Chief and Co-Director of the Eagle Pass and Maverick County Emergency Operations Center Rodolfo “Woody” Cardona announced three deaths from COVID-19 in Maverick County.
On Tuesday, July 21, 2020, Eagle Pass Mayor Luis E. Sifuentes reported that one local citizen had died from COVID-19.
Also on Monday, July 20, 2020, Maverick County Judge David R. Saucedo regretfully announced that three local citizens had passed away from deadly COVID-19 virus during the weekend of July 17-19, but officially reported on July 20.
As of press time on Friday, July 24, there still remains one day’s report outstanding to be made by Maverick County public officials to complete the week of July 19-24. Even without the report of Friday, July 24, the ten deaths related to COVID-19 during the week of July 19-24 is the highest total of fatalities in Maverick County, signaling the severity of community spread of COVID-19 in the U.S.-Mexico border county.
Maverick County Officials, Local Health Authority Dr. Victoriano Valdez, and other health care professionals have run out of superlatives to tell Maverick County citizens that they need to take this deadly COVID-19 pandemic seriously and change their ways of living to adapt to the new reality of life under this virus such as following the CDC Guidelines to wear a face mask in public, wash hands with soap regularly, use hand sanitizer regularly, practice social distancing (6 feet apart), avoid gatherings of 10 or more people, limit travel to essential matters only, and stay home.
These CDC Guidelines are currently the best known measures to slow or stop the community spread of the novel coronavirus. While many scientists across the world race to develop, test, and get approval of a potential vaccine against COVID-19, people need to strictly follow these guidelines to avoid getting infected or infecting others with COVID-19.
Eagle Pass Mayor Sifuentes noted at the July 23 press conference that the totals in Maverick County as of that date include 9,896 people have taken a COVID-19 test with 1,440 positive results, including 50 new ones, 7,497 negative results, 959 waiting for test results, 712 active cases, 702 recovered, 26 fatalities, 51 hospitalized, and the positivity rate increased to a whopping 16.1 percent.
Sifuentes added that of the 51 hospitalized patients at the Fort Duncan Regional Medical Center, there are 18 patients in the Intensive Care Unit with 17 positive and one pending results, another 33 in the Medical Floor with 24 positive and 9 pending results, and another 13 in the Emergency Room with six positive and seven pending results. A total of 16 positive COVID-19 patients are using ventilators to assist them breathe and another non-COVID-19 patient is also on a ventilator at the local hospital.
Texas reported 9,507 new confirmed positive COVID-19 cases on July 23, 2020 as well as 173 deaths from COVID-19, and 8,858 hospitalized Texans due to COVID-19, bringing the state totals to 361,125 positive cases and 4,521 deaths related to COVID-19. Public Health experts opine that the figures are actually much higher than these reported due to reporting discrepancies.
Nationally, the United States is in crisis mode as the lack of a national strategic plan to combat the deadly coronavirus by President Donald J. Trump and his Administration have shifted the responsibility and blame to the Governors, County, and City public officials to fend for their constituents. As of July 23, 2020, there are over 4 Million positive COVID-19 cases and over 144,000 deaths reported in the United States with many states surging with high infection rates.
