El Pasoans not complying with stay-at-home order as county nears 300 cases

EL PASO, Texas -- City and county officials urged El Pasoans to stay home during the Easter weekend through a series of public safety alerts delivered over TV broadcasts, on phones and through social media in order the slow the uptake of coronavirus cases in El Paso.

But are El Pasoans really taking it seriously as the community records nearly 300 virus cases and a pair of deaths?

"Its a matter of life and death, we're not in prison it's not like we have a prison code in here," said east El Paso Resident Herman Delgado. He claims his neighbors held a house party outside their home Easter Sunday, despite the city's order not to.

He shared the photo above with ABC-7 and posted it on social media.

"The driveways were being blocked that's why I said, 'Why are there so many cars on the street? There's never that many cars on the street'... There must have been 13 to 15 people out here," Delgado said.

"I'm tired of people thinking, you're a snitch for (reporting gatherings)... We're stuck in our homes right now for the better of the community," Delgado added.

City officials hoped El Pasoans would comply with the stay-at-home order after two large gatherings were recently tied to multiple confirmed outbreaks of Covid-19 cases.

ABC-7 crews went to parks across the city in search of violators on Sunday, but did not find any.

At parks - like Memorial in central El Paso, and Eastwood in on the east side - playgrounds and benches were wrapped in yellow caution tape. Park crews, security guards, and police could be seen patrolling the area to stop any violators.

Numerous viewers told ABC-7 they had frequently called 3-1-1 to report violators. ABC-7 asked city officials how many violations were found over the Easter weekend by authorities, but they said those numbers wouldn't be available until Monday or Tuesday.