Cameron County is experiencing an increase of COVID-19 cases and health officials expect this to continue.
The county is 49 cases short of reaching 1,000 positive cases of the coronavirus.
The news was announced this morning at a press conference hosted by Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr.
The cases started to increase with the reopening of the state and the movement of residents around the community, officials said.
Trevino said he understands that businesses need to reopen and people need to get back to work, but said individuals need to continue to take precautions when they are around others in the community.
“I kept reiterating the fact even though it was no longer mandatory to wear a mask or facial covering we were requesting and recommending that everyone would please do that.” The judge said if people choose not to wear facial coverings, “you are putting yourself, your families and others at risk.”
Treviño’s announcement follows last night’s report that one more person in the county has died from COVID-19 related causes.
The person was a 90-year-old man who was a resident of Spanish Meadows nursing home in Brownsville and was a previously reported case, Cameron County Public Health said in a statement.
This raises the number of COVID-19 related deaths in the county to 40. The number of coronavirus cases in the county is at 951.
Cameron County Health Authority Dr. James Castillo said the new numbers involve clusters of people acquiring cornonavirus in the community and then taking it home and then infecting their families.
“We have seen a steady rise since people have been out of their homes and having more activity. This just really emphasizes again that while things are open we all need to be better in” practicing social distancing and the use of facial coverings while out in public, Castillo said.
Cameron County last night also confirmed an additional 32 cases of the virus here.
Brownsville had 20 new cases, Harlingen had two new cases, Los Fresnos and three new cases, Port Isabel had two new cases and San Benito had five new cases.
This raises the total number of COVID-19 cases to 951 in Cameron County. There have also been an additional 13 individuals who have recovered, raising the total number of recovered individuals to 658.
