Hidalgo County held a Facebook live today, in which Public Affairs Director Carlos Sanchez gave an update over COVID-19 testing and indicated Judge Richard F. Cortez will evaluate stricter orders.
The Hidalgo County Commissioners Court will meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday via Zoom to discuss stricter orders.
Sanchez said one of the things Cortez will consider is an order that will limit the number of people traveling in vehicles.
“[Cortez is] also looking into making uniform work safety measures,” he said. “Many cities already are asking businesses for work safety plans. Hopefully, this will avoid duplicate paperwork requirements.”
As previously reported by The Rider, Cortez will consider issuing a countywide mandate requiring some sort of facial covering.
Edinburg, Mission, Palmview, Elsa, Alton and Weslaco are cities in Hidalgo County that have already issued face-covering orders.
“Judge Cortez [is] strongly advising that people avoid medical-grade masks and use cloth, or fabric, covering, such as scarves and handkerchiefs, to leave the medical-grade masks to the health-care providers,” Sanchez said.
The county’s latest COVID-19 numbers as of Sunday evening: out of 874 total tests administered, 99 were positive and 666 negative, he said. One hundred nine tests are pending results.
Investigators are digging deeper into all known infections and are beginning to notice patterns suggesting how COVID-19 is spreading in Hidalgo County, according to a news release issued Sunday.
“Health officials now believe they are seeing 13 different clusters of infection that emanated from people who contracted the virus earlier but have since spread it to others,” said Eddie Olivarez, chief administrator of Hidalgo County’s Health and Human Services department.
Forty-nine of the 99 known cases in Hidalgo County are in some way related in part of the clusters, the news release stated.
Starr County confirmed a seventh case of COVID-19 Sunday evening, according to the Starr County Texas Facebook page. The patient is a 28-year-old man from Rio Grande City. The man had traveled to Louisiana and has been in isolation since March 31. Six of the seven positive COVID-19 patients are in isolation and recovering at home under medical care, and one is recovering in a hospital.
Starr County implemented a mandatory face mask order on Sunday. It requires all people over the age of 5 to wear some form of covering over their nose and mouth.
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