Four more Willacy County residents COVID-19 positive

RAYMONDVILE — State health officials have found four more Willacy County residents have tested positive for the coronavirus, pushing this rural county’s total case count to 118.

On Wednesday night, county officials reported a man in his 20s and another in his 40s and a woman in her 30s and another in her 40s had contracted COVID-19.

“The patients are currently isolated,” Dr. Emilie Prot, Region 11’s medical director, stated in a press release.

Now, health officials are investigating to determine whether the patients infected others.

The health department “is supporting Willacy County in identifying any close contacts of the patient so they can be isolated and monitored for symptoms.”

At the Willacy County Jail, Maj. Andres Maldonado was awaiting test results to determine whether an inmate had contracted the virus.

About two weeks after they curbed an outbreak that led 12 jailers and 12 inmates to contract COVID-19, jail officials have reported a jailer has tested positive for the virus while they await the inmate’s test results.

Maldonado said the inmate has been isolated from other prisoners.

On Monday, the jailer tested positive for the virus, he said.

In this rural county of 22,000 residents, COVID-19 cases have soared from 14 in late May to 118 on Wednesday.