Anticipating a potential increase of COVID-19 cases due to holiday gatherings, Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez said the county is poised to issue an order early this week, possibly Tuesday, that would include a curfew for the youth and other measures.
The news came as Cortez discussed the county jumping past the 50,000 mark for the total number of COVID-19 cases Monday.
“The numbers are increasing, and it’s (because) people are not being careful,” Cortez said. “I was as careful as I could be, and I got it.”
Cortez said that he does not see the type of panic that he saw in July when COVID-19 numbers surged substantially and turned the region into a hot spot of cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
To put it plainly, he said there are residents who are still not taking the virus seriously.
The county judge said he’ll be issuing an order Tuesday that will include a curfew requiring residents 17 years old and under to stay home through New Year’s Eve. Exact details, however, won’t be known until the order is issued.
“What we’re seeing is that the young people are not really feeling COVID as hard as others, but they’re still bringing it to households,” he said. “I’m going to put a curfew for a few days, just till the New Year, and see if that helps.”
He said that he does anticipate another rise in COVID-19 cases due to people gathering for Christmas, which follows a trend of recent spikes that can be traced back to various holidays.
“(The numbers) have gone up here, certainly this weekend,” Cortez said. “I’ll see what the hospitals tell me tomorrow.”
He also said that the county is coming up with a program to help businesses learn how to operate safely through the pandemic.
“This is what I’m telling all the businesses, ‘Why would I get pleasure in telling you that you can’t open?” Cortez said. “I’m hurting you. I’m hurting your employees. I’m hurting your customers. But I do it because we’re in a public health emergency. If you can learn to operate safely — and I think some businesses have done that — it’s going to help.”
Aware of the strain on the business community, he further noted the difficulty of navigating a pandemic of this scale.
“No one, anywhere in the world, has been able to say, ‘Hey, we know how to do this.’ The only possible way would be to have a total shutdown,” Cortez said. “But we know that that cannot happen. People need to eat and people need to work. It’s a tough situation, but I am optimistic that our caregivers are learning and doing a better job. I think our businesses are doing a better job. I think a lot of our people are being responsible. Some are not, but I think a lot are. I’m hopeful that tomorrow will be better than yesterday.”
Cortez’s remarks follow news of Hidalgo County exceeding 50,000 cases of COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, yet another milestone marking the impact the coronavirus has had on the Rio Grande Valley.
Officials reported Monday morning 304 new cases of the disease, bringing the county’s tally of infections to 50,032, of which 35,005 are confirmed, 14,273 are probable and 754 are suspected.
In November, the county had reached 2,000 deaths due to COVID-19. Five more deaths confirmed Monday now brings that toll to 2,181.
Women in their 50s, 60s and 70s from Alamo, Donna and Mission in addition to a man over 70 from San Juan make up those who’ve recently died.
Of the 304 new cases in Hidalgo County, 168 are confirmed, 135 are probable and one is suspected.
As of Monday morning, there were 282 people in Hidalgo County hospitals with the virus, 109 of whom were in intensive care units.
An additional 260 people were released from isolation Monday, raising that total to 45,218.
There are 2,633 net active cases in Hidalgo County.
The county has administered 299,482 COVID-19 tests, and 248,609 were negative.
ELSEWHERE IN THE VALLEY
Cameron County reported an additional 446 cases of COVID-19 and one virus-related death Monday.
The county’s numbers reflect a period of time from Wednesday, Dec. 23 through Monday.
With the one death, a Harlingen man in his 80s, the county’s death toll stands at 1,173.
The new cases include 192 Brownsville residents, 110 Harlingen residents, 50 San Benito residents, 31 Port Isabel residents and 24 Los Fresnos residents. The county’s total number of cases rose to 29,321.
There were 87 people who recovered from the virus, raising that total to 25,180.
Starr County reported an additional 22 people tested positive for COVID-19 Sunday.
There are 600 active cases there, and 4,515 people have recovered from the virus.
There have been 199 COVID-19 related deaths there.
Willacy County reported 14 new cases of the virus for Thursday, Dec. 24 and 12 new cases for Saturday, Dec. 26, raising the total number of COVID-19 cases there to 1,572.
