TREVINO COULD HAVE SWUNG FOR THE FENCE, AND BUNTED

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Here was the chance for Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño to stand tall for the residents of this county.

Here was his chance to thumb his nose at politically castrated Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and defy his tepid support for the mandatory wearing of face masks or coverings to contain the COVIDS-19 contagion.

Here was chis chance to tell Abbott that of the three county-owned bridges in its International Bridge System, he would close two to non-essential traffic from Tamaulipas across the Rio Grande, leaving open the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates strictly for commerce.

That move alone could have given the county more control over the spread of CODIV-19 from both sides of the river to the other  and the  Matamoros–Brownsville Metropolitan Area, which counts with a population of 1,136,995, making it the 4th largest metropolitan area on the Mexico-US border.

He already had Tamaulipas Gov. Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca in his corner, the Mexican official  revealing to the media July 2 that he had tested positive for the virus. Concurrently, Cabeza de Vaca has made a request to Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores (Mexican State Dept.) that it prevent Texas residents from crossing over to Tamaulipas as a way to prevent the spread of the virus since Texas is one of the "hot spots" for contagion in the United States along with Arizona, Florida and California.

He could have also told Abbott that he was closing the Queen Isabella Bridge to essential travel to prevent the foolhardy actions by the money-hungry South Padre Island crowd hungry to make up its tourism-dollar losses starting with Spring Break, Holy Week, Mothers and Father's Day and just last week, the Fourth of July holiday.

And he could have justified this move citing their refusal to close the city's beaches July 4 as did Cameron County. News coverage of the crowds show that many were not wearing face coverings or keeping a safe social distance to prevent the spread.

Instead, he vacillated and said that it was difficult to tell who was lying or telling the truth. What's so hard about asking your Parks Rangers to tell you what happened there instead of relying on non-official sources to reach a conclusion?

Just yesterday, Treviño announced that the capacity at local hospitals had been breached and that elective surgery had to be postponed to deal with the overflow of COVID-19 cases.

Ten of 12 hospitals in Hidalgo, Cameron and Starr counties are now on “diversion status,” which means all their beds are full, although Hidalgo County spokesperson Carlos Sanchez said it’s a “fluid situation so diversions may be lifted at any moment.”

Sanchez said the state has sent medical personnel and supplies to the area to help overwhelmed hospitals, “but personnel remains a concern.”

In the Rio Grande Valley, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has more than tripled over the past two weeks, from 253 people on June 22 to 820 on July 4.

As of last Thursday, 451 people in Hidalgo County were hospitalized with 104 in intensive care units — a 49.8 percent increase in hospitalizations and 285 percent increase in ICU patients from Wednesday.

Treviño should remember that he is not a district judge for evidence to be placed before him. He is a county judge and he should make every effort to secure objective, neutral evidence. Or perhaps he doesn't want to. His behavior vis-a-vis the SPI crowd on COVID-19 reminds many of Donald Trump's reluctance to criticize Putin over any issue.

After all, it was South Padre Island where the first Rancho Viejo residents infected with the virus in Spain and Ireland visited after landing at Valley Regional Airport. It was not until well after they placed themselves in "self-quarantine" without telling anyone until their father Ricardo Adobbati confided in the county judge.

Later, Adobbati thanked Treviño profusely for the kind considerations he had paid his son, and keeping it hush hush, the worst thing one can do with a contagious disease. One can only wonder how many people from the airport to the SPI condominium and Spring Breakers at the bars were infected then.

He could have used the bully pulpit today announce that he was closing the county buildings and sending the employees home for two weeks while the facilities were thoroughly sanitized and checking them for contagion upon their return, establishing a rigid inspection protocol for both staff and the public, and having County Health Dept. personnel as gatekeepers to the facilities to contain and prevent the spread.

But he did none of that things above. He could have stood tall and ordered the implementation of those measures for the safety and welfare of local residents.

Instead, predictably, he fell woefully short again.