Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez has signed an order requiring all residents to wear facial coverings while in public.
While this order, which took effect Tuesday, affects all Hidalgo County residents, people have found it difficult to find medical face masks as they are in high demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Residents are required to cover their mouth and nose with face coverings at all times unless at home, in a vehicle or exercising.
The short supply of masks has pushed individuals and even groups to create their own face covers.
“I think it’s a measure that we can take because it’s not too costly, but they’re not expected to be the final solution,” said Dr. Jose Campo Maldonado, an assistant professor of Internal Medicine in the UTRGV School of Medicine.
“I think that they are limited in what they do, but I agree that we should use those, especially if we are facing a place that is crowded or has a lot of people,” he said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website “advises the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others.”
The short supply of masks has prompted the Mechanical Engineering and the Theatre departments at UTRGV to help produce masks and gowns for the School of Medicine, which has testing sites on both the Edinburg and Brownsville campuses.
“We’re working with [the] engineering and art [departments] to create more masks, face shields, and working on equipment for the medical school and the community,” Theatre Department Interim Chair Peter Mikolasky said.
“We’ve created at least 500 to 600 face shields; we’ve created 250 to 300 2-mm plastic gowns that are reusable,” Mikolasky said. “Of course, they have to be cleaned. And, we’re over a 100 of the cloth masks, so far.”
Noe Vargas Hernandez, an assistant professor for the UTRGV School of Engineering, has also been involved with the Theatre Department in helping print 3D parts for materials.
“We agreed that I will help them by providing the 3D printed parts and they will take those 3D printed parts and they will finish them,” Vargas Hernandez said.
Although they are mainly supplying parts to the school of medicine, they have also been contacted by local hospitals.
The new order is in effect until midnight April 30.
For more information on homemade face coverings and how to follow CDC guidelines, visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html.
To help or donate to the Theatre Department, visit https://www.utrgv.edu/theatre/about/news/index.htm.
