El Paso hospitals near capacity; county judge asks health authority for mask rule
EL PASO, Texas -- With El Paso's hospitals said to be nearly at capacity on Saturday, County Judge Ricardo Samaniego asked City/County Health Authority Dr. Hector Ocaranza to issue a mask-wearing mandate for schools in the community.
"Currently, the hospitals in the El Paso community are nearly at capacity treating non-Covid patients. El Paso is also experiencing a shortage of medical personnel to treat patients. These are patients who are suffering from heart attacks, stroke and other ailments. If a surge of Covid infections were to hit El Paso, the existing capacity issues would overwhelm El Paso’s hospital systems beyond the point that was seen last fall," Samaniego said in a statement issued Saturday afternoon.
Samaniego was joined in his request to the Health Authority by two other El Paso lawmakers, Texas state Sen. Cesar Blanco and State Board of Education Rep. Georgina Perez.
The group urged Ocaranza to take action on a mask rule, even though such a move would put him at odds with an order by Gov. Greg Abbott forbidding mask requirements.
"As more and more Texas communities take decisive action to protect public safety by defying Governor Abbott's ban on mask mandates, we strongly encourage Dr. Ocaranza to consider a mask requirement to slow the spread of Covid-19 in our community and keep our children safe," Samaniego's statement said.
Already, the state's largest school districts have announced masking requirements despite Abbott's order; a number of courts have also ruled against the governor's order and several additional lawsuits over it are pending.
While Samaniego indicated El Paso's hospital capacity strain was due to an influx of non-Covid patients, ABC-7 reported earlier this week that some El Paso hospitals were accepting Covid-19 patient transfers from elsewhere in the state where medical facilities have been overwhelmed by virus cases.
