DEL RIO, TX — The Val Verde County Judge took direct aim at Del Rio Mayor Bruno “Ralphy” Lozano over the weekend for providing an inaccurate assessment of Del Rio’s emergency response to the coronavirus in a San Antonio TV news piece on Saturday.
On KENS-5, Mayor Lozano is on camera saying:
- The coronavirus has overwhelmed their community
- “We’re seeing patients waiting in hallways. Every room is occupied. Every trauma room is occupied. Every emergency room is occupied. We’re flooded.”
- “We don’t have the staff to accommodate the patients.”
- “We’re gonna become a COVID-only hospital,” he said about the Val Verde Regional Medical Center
- Val Verde County is unable to test persons as quickly as this virus is spreading
- The mayor said a refrigeration truck is slated to arrive next week in anticipation of more deaths
Lozano is promoting a voluntary 21-day stay-at-home order. According to videos posted on the City of Del Rio Facebook page, City authorities are suggesting citizens take up gardening or yoga instead of gatherings. The primary reason for the spread, according to the mayor, are gatherings where people attending live in different households.
The mayor’s remarks on the San Antonio TV news report didn’t sit well with Val Verde County Judge Lewis Owens, who took to a Facebook video over the weekend blasting Mayor Lozano for being absent for three months only to emerge during the past week, declaring a voluntary 21-day voluntary stay-at-home order, and disseminating inaccurate information.
Owens said he is not a fan of the 21-day voluntary order.
“I’m not a big fan of the 21-day stay-at-home [order] because what are you going to do when you stay at home? 50 percent [of the case count] is related to gatherings. … Look at family gatherings, that is where the problem arose,” Owens said.
“You put a little alcohol in your system and all you want to do is hug. We’re just a ‘huggy-kissy’ kind of people,” said the judge. “You send people home and they’re going to have cookouts. You invite people over and that’s how it’s going to spread.”
As of July 17, Val Verde County reported 875 cases of COVID-19, 734 of those cases were considered active. There have been 8 deaths. The county's population is just under 50,000 people.
Owens said the average age of a county citizen testing positive for COVID-19 is 39; the average age of those who died is 74.
“The younger group is bringing it home to your parents and grandparents,” Owens said.
Lozano laments that the state and federal authorities do not provide local authorities with the power to make the 21-day order mandatory. He wants Del Rio to shut down completely.
To that, Owens asked, “How are we going to pay our bills?”
A clearly frustrated Judge Owens said the mayor’s newfound interest in the county’s coronavirus response is not in accordance with a county-city agreement made months ago in March when the pandemic response was organized.
“I’m not going to go at there and scare the hell out of you just to scare you,” Owens promised.
Owens said that COVID-19 patients are not placed in the hallways. While the Val Verde County Regional Medical Center is crowded, he said there are no plans to turn the hospital into a COVID-only facility, although a second COVID treatment wing for the hospital is planned. He noted that there were patients in the hallways in the emergency room area at times because the ER didn’t want patients waiting in their hot cars to be seen.
“The hospital does not have COVID patients in the damned hall. Mayor, you’re wrong!” Owens stressed.
Owens added more hopeful statistics for the hospital’s current situation. He said there are 26 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Val Verde County. There were 4 ventilators in use of 11 available. “When this started, the hospital had only had 4 or 5 ventilators,” Owens said. Owens also lauded hospital officials and state and Congressman Will Hurd for obtaining 70 more patient doses of the drug Remdesivir, a treatment lauded as highly effective in treating COVID-19.
“You’re going to have to make a decision. Who do you want running this? Do you want the mayor? … Hell, he wasn’t around for three months. You know, Jesus Christ, you (mayor) were at the concessions stand buying snow cones. Now we’re in the third or fourth inning. Now all of a sudden you want to be relevant?” Owens said.
Owens, a Democrat, was elected in November 2018 to be the Val Verde County judge, defeating incumbent Efrain Valdez with 53.64 percent of the vote. Del Rio Mayor Lozano was heralded as the first gay mayor of a border county when he was elected in May 2018 with 61.54 percent of the vote, defeating incumbent Robert Garza.
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