‘I just want them to be straight forward’: El Pasoans say release virus cluster data

EL PASO, Texas -- Many El Paso residents and business owners seem to be on the same page when it comes to releasing cluster data concerning businesses infected with Covid-19.

"You need to inform your customers even if you are going to lose, or if it is going to affect your business. These are peoples lives, so you still need to inform them about it," said Samer Qasem, assistant manager of The Mediterranean Grill.

Qasem is one of many El Pasoans concerned with City Council's vote to keep cluster data dealing with infected businesses private. On Tuesday in a 5-4 vote, El Paso Mayor Dee Margo broke a tie to keep the city from having to release that information. He expressed concerns over the impact on local businesses if cluster data is reported by the city and said businesses can report it themselves.

However, several local businesses and their employees told ABC-7 that they'd be willing to disclose that information.

"I can just speak for myself, I like to shop locally. If I know that a business has had cases but they shut down and sanitized everything and take care of everything that needs to be done, I'm still going to go. I just want them to be straight forward about it and do what they need to do to keep everyone safe," said Luis Herrera, the main server at Hunan Palace.

While ABC-7 spent much of they day speaking to businesses on how they would handle a situation with having multiple infected employees, patrons answers were on par with that of the business owners. They all preferred transparency from these establishments, as well as city officials.

"They want to keep the economy going, but they don't even care about lives being lost,"Rosie Carrasco, an El Paso tourist and business owner from North Carolina said.

City representatives Alexsandra Annello and Cassandra Hernandez told ABC-7 they are working to advance a City Council agenda item that would allow businesses to voluntarily disclose information about outbreaks that could be shared in city data.