Popular Categories


Parties fueling COVID-19


Julye Keeble

Staff writer

The message on Friday during a COVID-19 press conference was to stay safe, and preferably home, for the Fourth of July weekend and to take personal responsibility to combat the pandemic.

“As we enter this Independence Day weekend, you are encouraged to keep your celebration in your backyard among your immediate family,” said Bill Mitchell, Uvalde County Judge from the courthouse steps.

The appointed Uvalde Health Authority, Dr. Jared Reading, said the case count for COVID-19 hit 140 last week, up 59 percent from 88 on Tuesday, with 72 active cases and 67 recovered patients. He said 12 staff members and 12 patients at a local nursing home have become infected, and next week officials will be testing other local care facilities.

Uvalde Healthcare ad Rehabilitation Center, the affected nursing home, is taking precautions and being assisted by health officials from the State of Texas, and Reading says there are more staffing resources available if needed.

He said coronavirus tests being performed in Uvalde County are ordered by physicians, and the vast majority of infected patients have allergy-type symptoms, with some affected more severely.

“We have a few that are suffering greatly. Just today before I got here I went and looked at seven chest X-rays of COVID-19 patients. They are terrible, these are people who are struggling to breathe, and if you have ever watched someone struggle to breathe like they are, it will terrify you,” Reading, who is a radiologist, said. “The thing that is so crazy about this virus is that it goes from very little to no symptoms to suffering like you cannot breathe at all.”

There has been one death, and Reading said the deceased Sabinal man, 79, was a pillar of the community. He said the man died of complications related to coronavirus, which affected other health issues he had while he was recovering.

“I’ve investigated 140 of our cases through interviews with staff, through interviews with patients, and I’m going to tell you where they are coming from. They should have called Memorial Day COVID party day. They should have called Father’s Day COVID party day. And this Fourth of July, if we don’t stay away from each other there’s going to be another COVID party day. Our interactions with our family and friends are what is driving this,” Reading said.

He said everyone needs to take personal responsibility for their health, work hard to maintain social distance and wear masks when appropriate.

Uvalde Memorial Hospital CEO Tom Nordwick praised Reading, calling him a blessing to all, and noting his hard work contacting and monitoring patients.

Nordwick said COVID-19 is impacting everyone’s daily lives.

He expressed concern about the jump from two hospitalized patients to 10 this week, of which seven are housed at UMH and three are at hospitals not in Uvalde County.

Nordwick said Uvalde Memorial Hospital became designated as a critical access hospital in 2017, and as such can maintain only 25 licensed beds, but they have 50 beds available which they are allowed to use to treat COVID-19 patients.

“We can handle 42 patients before it becomes a real strain on our staff,” Nordwick said, noting that not all patients need to be hospitalized. He added that UMH had not yet put any coronavirus patients on any of the 16 ventilators the hospital has available.

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin Jr. said people need to practice good hygiene, social distancing and avoid groups of 10 or more to slow the spread.

“People, we need to wake up, we’re not invincible to this disease,” McLaughlin said.

He noted elderly people were more vulnerable to COVID-19

“The risk you take when you go to see your grandmother, your grandfather, or even your parents, and give them this disease, you could be giving them a death sentence. Let’s hope and pray we don’t but that’s the cold hard facts of this disease,” McLaughlin said.

He said there is much still unknown, and people must start adhering to rules meant for public safety.

Mitchell and McLaughlin have held four previous press conferences since March 26, when they announced the first confirmed Uvalde County case of COVID-19, to update the public on the pandemic as it affects the area.

jkeeble@ulnnow.com, 830-278-3335

Pete Luna|Leader-NewsUvalde Health Authority official Dr. Jared Reading discusses the recent rapid succession of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Uvalde County as Uvalde County bailiff Fred Ratliff (back, left) looks on and Patty Treviño (right) translates Reading’s comments into sign language. The press conference took place Friday morning on the steps of the Uvalde County Courthouse, just two hours before Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s order on face masks took effect.

Pete Luna|Leader-NewsUvalde Health Authority official Dr. Jared Reading discusses the recent rapid succession of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Uvalde County as Uvalde County bailiff Fred Ratliff (back, left) looks on and Patty Treviño (right) translates Reading’s comments into sign language. The press conference took place Friday morning on the steps of the Uvalde County Courthouse, just two hours before Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s order on face masks took effect.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.