Houston, Mar 29: Bustling energy hub Houston is all quiet with its residents holed up since Tuesday following a stay-at-home order even as the coronavirus cases on Saturday jumped to 232 from 69 a day earlier as testing expanded, uncovering previously undetected infections.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has deployed three brigades of the Texas National Guard, throughout the state, to help at drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites.
Abbott said three joint task force brigades were deployed on Friday in an attempt to fight the coronavirus pandemic as it continues to spread across the state. The teams will operate 10 units in Texas.
Abbott said the Guard has practised erecting and running drive-thru testing site locations alongside medical staff.
They will now work to help coordinate the process to give the Texans access to COVID-19 screenings. Medical staff will be deployed with each unit to ensure Guard members are healthy and any of them showing symptoms of COVID-19 will be treated.
Texas has reported over 2,200 confirmed COVID-19 cases including at least 27 deaths due to the pandemic, according to the latest official numbers that include 802 in the eight-county Houston region.
“Let me just say, the testing has been limited. We know there are more cases,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said. “The way I look at it, I take 232 and I multiply by 10. Because we just don’t know.”
Turner confirmed on Saturday three Houston Police officers tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the department’s total to 7.
One other death, involving a woman in her 70s who was hospitalized at the time, has been attributed to the disease in the city. The woman’s positive test came back the same day she died.
“The numbers give you some degree of what’s taking place, but… The numbers are very fluid,” Turner said, adding that will be the case for several weeks.
Meanwhile, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers will begin manning the state’s airports on Saturday to enforce an executive order from Governor Abbott that anyone travelling from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut or New Orleans self-quarantine for 14 days.
The troopers will screen passengers arriving from those locations and require them to fill out a form with identifying information, according to a news release from the agency.
“As part of the department’s efforts to ensure compliance with the Governor’s Executive Order, DPS Special Agents will conduct unannounced visits at the quarantine locations listed on the forms completed by travelers,” the agency said.
The visitors will be required to self-quarantine for the 14-day period or for the duration of their stay in Texas, whichever is shorter.
Upon arrival to Texas, a visitor will fill out a form designating a self-quarantine location such as a hotel or residence, Abbott said.
Quarantined people are not allowed to allow visitors other than health care professionals into or out of the locations, and they are prohibited from visiting public places.
Failure to follow the order can result in a fine of up to USD 1,000 or 180 days in jail – or both, Abbott said. (PTI)
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