Cameron County officials and hospital leaders at Monday’s COVID-19 county press conference spoke with one voice, advising residents to keep wearing masks, practicing social distancing and avoiding crowds no matter what Gov. Greg Abbott says.
Last week Abbott issued an order lifting the statewide mask mandate and allowing every type of business to operate at 100 percent capacity. County Judge Eddie Trevino Jr., speaking at his first press conference since Feb. 5, said the governor’s order was ill-timed “because we’re not at the point yet in our fight against COVID that we can relax.”
The county’s first reported COVID case was March 19, 2020. As of last Friday, March 5, total positive cased numbered 37,316, an increase of 1,691 cases from Feb. 5. COVID-related deaths have increased from 1,357 to 1,514 during the same period.
“Percentage-wise that is way too high in relation to our number of cases,” Trevino said.
Everyone by this point knows someone who has gotten sick or died from the virus, he said, and implored residents to keep observing precautions set out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in order to protect themselves, their families and friends, and the community at large.
“We know what works and so do you,” Trevino said. “We want all the businesses to reopen. There was never an issue about that. But following the CDC guidelines is the responsible thing to do. This is not the time to get rid of the mandate.”
Trevino said that if he’d had the chance to speak to Abbott before he announced last week’s order, he would have pointed out that although the county is seeing a decline in virus cases, spring break is coming up next week and then Semana Santa later in the month, both potential super-spreader events.
Meanwhile, vaccine availability in the county is still inadequate, Trevino said.
“Our four hospitals in Cameron County have not received any vaccines for approximately the last five to seven weeks, even though they have been requested,” he said.
Manny Vela, president and CEO of Valley Baptist Health System, said the post-holiday surge in cases this winter wasn’t as bad as the deadly July-August surge because more people were being careful — at least up until Thanksgiving.
“We find ourselves at another crossroads, a crossroads where we either learn from history or we don’t,” he said.
Vela said he, too, disagrees with the governor’s latest order, noting that easing restrictions and trusting people to “do what’s right” didn’t work so well last summer, when virus cases soared along the border. Those who believe personal behavior has no impact on the spread of the virus are wrong, he said, when in fact individuals hold the key to beating COVID-19 by being responsible. Vela asked residents not to be distracted by “mixed messages” coming out of Austin or anywhere else.
“Please continue to follow best practices,” he said.
County Health Authority Dr. James Castillo said the county is “nowhere near” the level of herd immunity — through people contracting COVID-19 and getting vaccinated — that will slow the virus down substantially.
“We’re getting closer,” he said. “It’s still not safe yet. When the governor changed the mask mandate I got a lot of calls from business owners taking this as a sign that it’s safe, that things have changed and it’s safe now. It’s not safe now.”
Castillo said that if residents keep up with wearing masks, social distancing, avoiding crowds and washing hands frequently, then ideally restrictions can be eased this summer. The good news is that friends and family members who have all been vaccinated can now gather at less risk of spreading the virus, he said.
The recently approved, single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine on its way to the county will help increase the rate of vaccination, Castillo said.
“This is a great vaccine that we have coming out and it’s really going to help us get to that community level of immunity,” he said.
Like the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines already being used in the country, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is extremely safe and effective, Castillo said.
He noted that the antibody “infusion center” at Casa de Amistad convention hall in Harlingen is still operating and for COVID-19 patients can mean the difference between having to be admitted to the hospital or not. Castillo said anyone who has been exposed to the virus or developed symptoms needs to get tested immediately and, if the results are positive, get a referral to the infusion center through their primary care physician or Cameron County Public Health.
While hospitals are seeing fewer COVID-19 patients they’re still seeing plenty of sick patients — people who have put off seeking necessary medical care because of the pandemic, he said.
“We’re seeing the fallout of people avoiding health care over the last year,” Castillo said. “Unfortunately we’re seeing a lot of that fallout.”
He echoed the call to to continue following safety measures to avoid another unnecessary surge of the virus.
“Keep up with the masks,” Castillo said. “Keep up with those precautions because we’re just so close to the finish line here that it would be a shame to see another wave that was completely avoidable.”
