Roxanna Miranda/The Rider Graphic
On April 11, Hidalgo County broke ground at the construction site for a multimillion-dollar public health laboratory.
The aim of the project, funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in partnership with the Hidalgo County Urban County Program, is to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as to prepare for “any future outbreaks,” said Eduardo Olivarez, chief administrator for Hidalgo County Health and Human Services.
“We’re one of the counties that does not have a public health laboratory,” he said. “Laredo, which is a third of our size, has had a public health laboratory for over 20 years. Corpus Christi, half our size, has had a public health laboratory for over 20 years.
“Here, we are the seventh largest [county in Texas] and do not have that capacity. … There’s an opportunity to build this facility and be able to develop our own public health safety and public health lab here in the county.”
Site preparation is scheduled to begin the first week of May and the construction is projected to be complete by April or May of 2023, depending on supply availability, Olivarez said.
The facility, a $6 million to $6.5 million investment, will consist of a biosafety lab, an in-house clinic and office space for laboratory staff and specialists. The location of the future facility is 1304 S. 25th Avenue in Edinburg.
“This is also a big economic driver, but we are looking at working with UTRGV, with the university, and actually, hopefully, we could acquire the staff to run this facility,” Olivarez said. “We’re going to be looking for microbiologists. We’ll be looking for laboratory information system technologists. We will be looking for nurses.
“We’ll be looking for anyone who specializes in laboratory sciences. So, we are excited about, maybe, partnering up with UTRGV and actually getting the primary workforce for this facility, [who] would be UTRGV students and graduates.”
Ellie Torres, Hidalgo County Precinct 4 Commissioner, wrote in an email that the public health laboratory staff performs “extraordinary work keeping communities safe.”
“The Hidalgo County Public Laboratory Facility is a welcomed opportunity that improves our public health infrastructure that our residents deserve,” Torres wrote.
Meanwhile, UTRGV reported two new COVID-19 cases between April 1 and 7, according to a university official.
Doug Arney, vice president for Administrative Support Services and chair of the Infectious Disease Committee at UTRGV, said the two consisted of a student and a staff member.
The new case figure is one less than what was reported for the week of March 25 through 31, according to the UTRGV Confirmed Cases Dashboard.
UTRGV updates the number of cases reported for campus individuals weekly through the Confirmed Cases Dashboard. The university COVID-19 Response Team provides the numbers on its website.
Arney said no students were in on-campus isolation housing the week of April 1 through 7.
Hidalgo and Cameron counties continue to report COVID-19 cases.
Hidalgo County reported 1,247 cases between April 8 and 14, raising its total to 198,932, according to its website.
The county reported five deaths between April 8 and 14, raising its death toll to 3,895.
Cameron County reported 89 cases between April 7 and 13, raising its total to 73,542, according to its website.
The county reported one death between April 7 and 13, raising its death toll to 2,227.
As of April 13, according to county officials, 86.4% of the population 5 years and older in Cameron County were fully vaccinated and 99.99% received at least one dose.
For more information, visit the Texas Vaccine Data Dashboard on the Texas Department of State Health Services website at dshs.texas.gov.
Individuals may call the Cameron County hotline at 247-3650 for more information about vaccination sites and services.
