IS CORONAVIRUS HERE? AND THE PARTY GOES ON AT SPI...

"Two residents of Cameron County are awaiting the results of coronavirus tests. County officials say the two are among four people who’ve been tested for the highly-contagious virus – the other two individuals tested negative.

Officials also say seven other people are in self-quarantine because they may have had contact with those who were tested."

Special to El RrunRrun

Do you get the feeling that we're in a sci-fi story where a virus escapes from a secret lab and wipes out the station?

That's not as far-fetched as one might think. 

With thousands of out-of-state residents crowded into bars and dance halls at south Padre Island, people crossing the international bridges as the number of cases rise in Mexico and foreign ships dock at the port of Brownsville from distant shores where the virus has run amuck, it's certainly a distinct possibility that we'll have an outbreak here.

And what about those people from upstate who are arrested on the highways and put  with other prisoners in jail after their arraignment?

Gov. Abbott on Friday declared a state disaster for all counties in Texas. He also directed state agencies to restrict visitation at nursing homes, state-sponsored living centers, hospitals and daycare centers.

In a recent press release, Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr. announced that all county-sponsored functions or events with an anticipated attendance of more than 250 people are canceled or suspended for at least 14 days.

Treviño also recommended that events on South Padre Island be canceled or suspended for the same time frame, according to the release.

So far, there have been no takers at SPI, where merchants count on Spring Break and Semana Santa to tide them over the lean months.

According to the online, nonbinding petition on change.org, more than 6,800 people have signed in support of the cancellation, as of Sunday afternoon. It’s unclear if those that signed in favor of the cancellation are all Texas residents.

“Recent news has caused us to panic regarding COVID-19 (Coronavirus), but more so to take precautions. This is to bring to light measures local officials can take to do their part. How do major conferences, concerts, sporting events cancel all public outings and Spring Break still be ON at South Padre Island, Texas, this and all other concert venues and events SHOULD HAVE canceled as well. 

Major corporations and events have taken cuts because of this to avoid further outbreak. We don’t have any known cases in the Rio Grande Valley and we want to keep it this way! Just because students are not sick doesn’t mean they are not carriers and can potentially put other people at risk. We still have many Winter Texans enjoying our area, they are the most at risk for the Coronavirus.

It’s simple. Lead by example, how irresponsible to not take into account how much further this can spread and affect our own community.”In the release, the county judge urged business leaders to use their best judgment with respect to their individual venues and events."

While school is still in session this week the Brownsville Independent School District is making sure all schools and facilities have an ample supply of hand soap and plenty of hand sanitizer. When Texas Week arrive during the Spring Break next week crews will get busy disinfecting all campuses, Jimmy Haynes, assistant superintendent of district operations, said.

In the meantime “we’ve instructed all custodians to continuously wipe down common areas, door knobs and other places. Next week, we’ll be going into the campuses, disinfecting the whole campus,” he said.

Thursday morning the BISD Transportation Department was busy disinfecting school buses using battery-powered sprayers as the buses came in from their morning runs to the bus barn on Dana Avenue.

The sprayers sent a disinfectant mist over the bus interiors. It is a process that started in 2017 with the H1-N1 virus outbreak and has been refined in the years since, Transportation Director Eliud Ornelas said.

News Central 4 said that Clayton Brashear, owner of Clayton's, a popular bar and saloon, had refused to return their calls. Film taken by the television station showed throngs of Spring Breakers at the bar.


Brashear had expressed his concern over the spread of the virus but the bar remained open, sources said. In a vaguely written letter to city officials he advocated to limit crowds to 500. How that would limit contagion he didn't day.

Spring Break has been cancelled in Miami and Galveston, unlike us here.

For SPI, it's business as usual with its website is still promoting Spring Break events for students.
https://www.sopadre.com/springbreak/