SAN ANGELO, TX — With a soft warning that businesses could be closed again and more restrictions be placed upon citizens of Tom Green County unless the COVID-19 infection and hospitalization rates decline, Mayor Brenda Gunter called a press conference Friday afternoon at City Hall.
Flanked by officials, including Col. Lauren Byrd the 17th Healthcare Operations Squadron Commander at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Nate Southard from Tom Green County, and the Local Health Authority for Tom Green County Dr. James Vretis, all of whom Gunter has on her steering committee for the pandemic response, she sympathized with citizens who have expressed to her that they are “so tired” of the COVID-19 and were ready to quit taking precautions, particularly wearing masks in public.
Despite the running joke that the masks and social distancing will end after Election Day, Nov. 3, Gunter said that the COVID-19 virus is not going away anytime soon.
“If you want to continue to have the great city we are continue with businesses open with the occupancies we have, we have to follow CDC guidelines,” she said.
“Look, I’m tired of it too,” she added. But, she stressed, if the COVID-19 hospitalization rate increased above 15 percent, Tom Green County Judge Steve Floyd is going to order businesses closed or reduce occupancies.
Dr. Vretis started his presentation on a good note, though.
“We’re in a good position now, but what happens over the next month will depend on what you do,” he said
Vretis is concerned about a University of Texas COVID-19 study that estimated the San Angelo area could be overrun by COVID-19 infections — and hospitalizations — by Nov. 8. The study Vretis cited gives wide variance on the numbers, positing that hospitalizations could exceed 160 beds per day here, which would put Trauma Service Area K, where San Angelo is the hub, well over the 15 percent COVID-19 patients in the area hospitals, a level Governor Greg Abbott said was a warning flag and threshold. Currently, our area has been reporting 35-40 COVID-19 patients per day hospitalized, and has for the past two weeks, maintaining a hospitalization rate under or at 7 percent. See the UT study here.
“Compared to our neighboring cities, we’re going great,” Vretis said, pointing to sister west Texas cities, particularly Lubbock and Amarillo.
The pandemic response team urged San Angelo citizens to re-double efforts to follow the CDC guidelines for preventing the rapid spread of the coronavirus. Those guidelines listed here are:
- Wash your hands regularly
- Avoid close contact with others
- Cover your mouth and nose with a mask when around others
- Cover coughs and sneezes
- Clean and disinfect, and
- Monitor Your Health Daily
LIVE! showed the City of San Angelo chart displaying the daily infections from COVID-19 and asked where on the chart one can correlate the mask mandate or when the restaurants and bars were closed? The chart data can be viewed in a way that discounts the effectiveness of masking.
The chart is below - Can you pinpoint when masks were mandated or the bars were closed?
COVID-19 Infections by day, March 2020 - Oct 30, 2020
Gunter said that the infection rates locally before the mandatory mask wearing and shutdowns was already at a low level because all of the local big box stores were already requiring masks in their stores.
“The reality is…there was very strong compliance in our big box stores. The problem was when everyone went home, the barbecues, the weddings, the family gatherings (started). In the retail stores, there was a very low rate of transmission, but when you go home the masks came off,” she said.
Vretis also noted that testing is more widespread and accessible than it was during the early days of the pandemic response March 20. If you test more, you find more COVID-19 infections. Hospitals and clinics were the only places one could get a test in March. Today, you can purchase a test in a strip mall test lab, for example.
Mayor Brenda Gunter at press conference about COVID-19 on Oct. 20, 2020
The bottom line from the presentation was that under Executive Order GA-32, Governor Abbott gave county judges wider latitude to decide when to close venues based upon the COVID-19 hospitalization rates. As long as COVID-19 patients comprise 15 percent or less of all hospitalizations within our county’s Trauma Service Area K, restaurants can remain open at 75 percent capacity and bars at 50 percent capacity. Furthermore, the order gives the county judge and the mayor the authority to limit or disallow events or large gatherings should the hospitalization rate of 15 percent be attained. If our area gets flagged by the state, to get off the restrictions, the TSA must remain below the 15 percent threshold for seven days.
Watch Highlights from the press conference:
Currently, three TSAs have a high COVID-19 hospitalization rate, according to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, and all of them are in west Texas. TSA A near Amarillo, TSA B near Lubbock, and TSA I near El Paso all exceed 15 percent.
The Governor’s EO GA-32 went into effect Oct. 14.
Over the past three weeks, Tom Green County has seen an uptick in COVID-19 infections daily. This week, from Oct. 24-30, the county reported a 15.6 percent COVID-19 positivity rate, or the rate of the number of positive results over the number of total tests administered. There are currently 37 patients in the hospital with COVID19, seven of them are in ICU, earning us a 7 percent hospitalization rate that is less than half the 15 percent threshold.
Current hospitalization rates as of Oct 30, 2020:
| Area | COVID-19 Hospitalization Rate |
|---|---|
| TSA A Amarillo | 27.28% |
| TSA B Lubbock | 19.98% |
| TSA D Abilene | 6.18% |
| TSA I El Paso | 40.97% |
| TSA J Midland | 7.14% |
| TSA K San Angelo | 7.00% |
(Data from the TXDHS as of 4:55 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2020, available here.)
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hardly wait.
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Permalinkthe mayor should ask her employees at her very own diner to wear MASKS! enough of the charade. Oh btw you won't be getting re elected
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PermalinkSAL comments that is.... not yay for Covid.
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