Christmas shoppers flock to Cielo Vista Mall despite Covid-19 risks
EL PASO, Texas -- Infectious disease experts say shopping inside an enclosed shopping mall can likely serve as a Petri dish of transmission for Covid-19.
At El Paso's Cielo Vista Mall on Tuesday, ABC-7 observed large groups of people gathering, shopping for Christmas gifts and disregarding social distancing - with some not even wearing face masks.
“I don’t think it’s safe for everybody to be shopping because it’s really packed everywhere,” said Bernadillo Jauregui, who was weighing shopping options.
El Paso City/County Health Authority Dr. Hector Ocaranza agrees with Jauregui's observation.
“Well definitely we are concerned, because we know that even though we make the recommendations to do most of their safe shopping online - and take advantage of other safer ways of shopping - people are still gonna show up at the malls and the big box stores. And we see it. We know there’s going to be a relaxation on all the reactions they’ve been taking,” Ocranza explained.
Health experts believe that when Christmas shoppers let their guard down, they may unknowingly be taking more than a gift home to vulnerable loved ones, such as parents and grandparents. They could be also be taking home the potentially fatal coronavirus.
El Paso Covid task force members have already identified big box stores as being culprits for spreading the virus.
“I do believe the department stores are doing enough. However, the people don’t seem to be following all the rules. We would be a lot safer,” said Ray Trujillo, another El Paso shopper.
The Christmas shopping season comes at a time when health officials are optimistic because hospitalizations rates due to the virus are going down.
That comes partly due to El Pasoans keeping their guard up during Thanksgiving. As a result, health officials did not see a spike in cases like they have after major holidays since the pandemic began.
And that's why health professionals find scenes of shoppers packing into crowded enclosed stores so frustrating.
“The greatest fear is that we’re going to see an increase in positive cases, and then we’ll see an increase in hospitalizations,” Ocaranza noted.
