Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino Jr. on Friday reported 18 county employees have tested positive for the coronavirus. The employees work at various county offices.
In addition, several other county employees are either self-quarantining or out-of-the-office due to exposure from a known COVID-19 case, or may be experiencing symptoms of the virus.
Of the employees testing positive, one is from the Cameron County Precinct 2 Office, one is from the Constable Precinct 2 Office, one is from the 444th state District Court, two are from the County Clerks Office, one is from the County Court-at-Law No. 1, one employee is from the Justice of the Peace Precinct 2, Place 2, four employees are from the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office, and seven are from the Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office.
Due to privacy laws, Cameron County will not release specific information of the employees.
The Cameron County Public Health Department is working closely with the different departments with known employees with COVID-19 and have assigned an epidemiologist for immediate contract tracing and response, officials said. In addition, health officials are awaiting results and official confirmation from additional employees who have been tested for coronavirus.
County Tax Assessor-Collector Tony Yzaguirre Jr. said of his seven employees who tested positive, six worked at the Brownsville Main Office and one worked at the Harlingen Branch.
Yzaguirre said his office has 11 employees out for testing due to symptoms associated with the virus due to being in contact with an infected person. The employees will be out pending clearance from medical personnel.
“Over the past few months, 18 employees have been out of the office with possible symptoms or due to possible contact with an infected person, and one employee has been cleared to return to work,” Yzaguirre stated in a press release.
Yzaguirre said the office continues to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and employees continue to clean and sanitize all facilities, practice social distancing and continue to wear face masks.
“It looks like the Coronavirus is here to stay; we just have to change our methods in doing business with the County Tax Assessors-Collector’s Office,” he said.
Yzaguirre said if customers do not feel comfortable entering the county offices, they can conduct business through the drive-thru windows, utilize drop off box locations or pay taxes online at www.cameroncountytax.org.
