Though COVID-19 cases in Starr County continue to rise at a higher rate than in neighboring Hidalgo and Cameron counties, hopes of setting up vaccination hub there in the immediate future were all but dashed Thursday.
During a news conference held Thursday, Dr. Emilie Prot, regional medical director with the Texas Department of State Health Services, said the department was not looking to create more hubs that than those already in existence.
“There’s no formal process to become a hub from what was relayed to me but right now it seems that they don’t want to create more hubs,” Prot said in response to questions from state Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, about what Starr County officials could do to push for a hub there.
“My suggestion would be to … and I know I’ve spoken to the judge and Dr. (Antonio) Falcon, the local health authority, and I know Starr has the infrastructure to receive a lot more vaccine, so I think we need to continue pushing to have some … larger allocations,” Prot said.
The state created large vaccination hubs or sites throughout the state with the goal of maximizing the number of people getting vaccinated. There are four hubs in Hidalgo County and one in Cameron County.
“I think the hubs are a good idea but it is not in favor of some of our rural counties which we serve as a DSHS region,” Prot said.
She noted that the hubs are not exclusive to the residents of that county.
“It’s not specific to that county,” she said. “So people can travel, so it’s not restrictive to a specific county.”
While it remains unlikely that the state will establish a vaccination hub in Starr County, Prot reported that the growing rate of COVID-19 cases there is higher than in rest of the Rio Grande Valley.
From Jan. 19 to Jan. 26 Prot said Starr County had a 6.3% rate of positive cases. Hidalgo County had a 5.2% increase, Cameron had a 4.6% increase and Willacy had a 4.9% increase, according to Prot who added that last week alone, Starr had 407 new cases.
Total COVID-19 hospitalizations had also gone up by 3.4% throughout the entire trauma service region — which consists of the same four counties — for a total of 709 hospitalizations which was an increase of 24 from the prior week prior.
In the absence of a designated hub there, county officials continue to push for a larger allocation of vaccine doses but the county has not yet received a response to that request.
“We feel that we might get some but we don’t have a definite answer,” said County Judge Eloy Vera. “And that’s what’s bothering, that we can’t tell people in Starr County because we don’t get a definite answer one way or another.”
However, the state announced Wednesday that a mobile vaccination team, consisting of National Guard personnel, would be deployed to five rural counties including Starr.
The vaccination team, as part of the State Mobile Vaccine Pilot Program, will administer vaccines in Rio Grande City on Saturday to 100 individuals who fall under Tier 1A and Tier 1B — healthcare workers, people 65 years old or older, and people 16 or older with a chronic medical condition.
The vaccination event is by appointment only and those appointments will be made for people who already pre-registered with the county to receive a vaccine.
“They’re being called as we speak to let them know, give them a time (for) when they should show up,” Vera said of the individuals who pre-registered. “So some of them have already been called but not all 100 of them.”
