Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. held a news conference and a Facebook Q&A live session earlier today regarding COVID-19 updates.
As of earlier today, there are eight new positive COVID-19 cases since last reported by Cameron County Public Health. Of those, two more deaths have been confirmed, according to Treviño.
The two cases were 91-year-old and 93-year-old females that resided in the Veranda Nursing Home and Windsor Atrium in Harlingen.
He said this increases the number of COVID-19 related deaths to five in the Rio Grande Valley.
“Cameron County Public Health continues to investigate the COVID-19 outbreak in the two nursing home facilities,” Treviño said.
In the Veranda Nursing home, 12 employees, two individuals related to employees and 15 residents have tested positive for COVID-19. Sixteen employees and 11 residents have tested negative, and 45 individuals are still pending results.
Windsor Atrium has three employees and nine residents who have tested positive for COVID-19. One employee and one resident have tested negative, and six individuals are still pending results.
During the news conference, the county judge said there are 448 individuals that have been tested for COVID-19 with 209 results coming back negative. One hundred and twenty-six results were positive, and of those, 30 have been cleared and 13 are currently hospitalized.
The number of individuals under self-quarantine is 306 with 150 having completed the two weeks and 191 being monitored.
The breakdown of cases in Cameron County by city include:
–Brownsville, 50;
–Harlingen, 47;
–San Benito, 7;
–Los Fresnos, 7;
–Santa Rosa, 5;
–Rancho Viejo, 4;
–Port Isabel, 2;
–Rio Hondo, 2;
–La Feria, 1; and
–Laguna Vista, 1.
Starting Monday, the use of face coverings when out in public will be mandatory in Cameron County.
The decision came after the Brownsville City Commission passed its second amended Declaration of State Local Disaster, in which face coverings will also be mandatory starting Monday.
Treviño said during a Facebook Q&A earlier today, that community members have until Monday to come up with adequate facial covers.
“They’ve been warned if they can’t come up with it then don’t leave the house, until you have something to cover up your face,” Treviño said.
Other changes to the original order by the county include if more than one person is in a vehicle, each person will wear a face covering or mask and no children under the age of 14 shall accompany parents or guardians for routine grocery supplies or gasoline replenishment trips. Trips for medical attention, health care or mandatory educational materials, and school food program distributions for children under the age of 14 are exempt from the order.
Cameron County Judge Treviño addressed concerns regarding church services.
“If these churches have been providing streaming services they should continue and they’re bound to continue to do that,” Treviño said. “The whole goal here is to keep people from interacting with one another. I understand that this being Easter, this being holy week, this is the worst time to be restricting your practice, but it’s not restricting your practice, it’s just telling you, you cannot go to the church.”
Regarding confusion about the Brownsville Independent School District, Judge Treviño addressed the governor’s order which suspends school until May 4.
“The food distribution program is supposed to begin again next week and again distance-learning is going to continue until at least May the fourth,” Treviño said.
During the Q&A, a viewer asked when the shelter-in-place will end, to which the mayor replied, “Right now it may end on April the 21, which is a week and a half from now. I can’t tell you for sure that it will. The way the order reads is that the order is in place until it’s rescinded in writing. I think by doing it in two week increments, it gives us all a short goal to accomplish as opposed to saying, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re gonna be waiting on this for another month.’”
