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Guadalupe County Commissioners extend COVID-19 emergency order

Seguin, TX, USA / Seguin Today
Guadalupe County Commissioners extend COVID-19 emergency order


(Seguin) — The Guadalupe County Commissioners Court has extended its emergency order related to the COVID-19 outbreak.  County Judge Kyle Kutscher issued the order last week, and it was extended by the full court today. It did not include any new measures.

The bulk of the meeting was an attempt by the court to reassure the public that this crisis isn’t a reason for panic. The court encouraged people to use common sense, and to remain calm.

“I wish I would have documented and logged the number of phone calls that I got from people and businesses that were just scared (Monday) because they don’t know what to do. They don’t know what they should do. The disaster declarations and stay home, stay safe and shelter in place orders that are taking place. People are scared because they keep leveling up the situation. when really not much has changed. The potential for this to get worse is there. I understand that. We need to be careful. We are going to do everything that we can to help prevent some of those things and protect the public but I’m saying that we just have to be honest with each other and be mindful and not scare people and everybody is scared. That’s the biggest thing that I’ve seen from last week or two weeks ago to this week and it’s okay to take drastic measures and to step out there a little bit and be proactive to do a little bit more than what maybe is needed but I think certain things need to be tempered and dialed back a little bit,” said Kutscher.

They encouraged people to again practice good hygiene, to stay away from sick people, to stay at home if you are sick, and to avoid crowds if you’re in a high risk category.

Judge Kutscher also explained how they receive information about confirmed COVID-19 cases in Guadalupe County. He says many people are concerned because they wanted more details about the four cases that have been confirmed thus far. Kutscher says there are limitations as to what the state can say in these cases.

“The important information they are going to release to the county, we should be releasing to the public is are they being quarantined at home or the hospital because that kind of talks to the severity of the situation. Was it community or travel related? Next, let the public know that when they have these cases, there is contact investigations that do go on to find out who the positive test individual has come into contact with and who else maybe be at risk,” said Kutscher.

Kutscher says the state will protect the identity of the patient, per federal law, but they will also make sure that the public is protected.

“These people are required to isolate, that they are under a control order to isolate when the DHS gets involved. If they are under a control order and they violate that, they can come to the county. An additional order can require them to be quarantined from myself or they can face penalties and fines for not obeying that control order and then the last part of the information that they are going to give to the county like we’ve been giving out was any location of  possible exposure. So, if it is an isolated incident where there is limited contact or potential contact with an exposed person, we are not going to know the people that they possibly could have been in contact with. That’s the state side. They are not going to give us those details and we can’t give that out to the public for the safety of the person that is infected and the people’s safety who have possibly come into contact. If we have a wide spread possible exposure like the one in HEB in Schertz, they are going to give us that information and we are going to publicize that so people can use good judgment, calm thought to make rationale decisions about whether they were at that location at that time, whether there is any possible exposure and they can monitor their own
health situations,” said Kutscher.

Some larger counties in Texas have discussed the stay at home order, but the court stated that it would not be considering that at this time, because the situation in Guadalupe County had not yet reached that level.

“When it’s not safe to go to work. When it’s not safe to go to a grocery store. It’s not safe to go be around anybody for that type of reason or that type of purpose that’s when a shelter in place order is required. Dallas County, Bexar — some other counties have put this in but they have put in so many caveat and exemptions that in my opinion, there is not a whole lot being accomplished in those shelter in place, stay home orders because everybody is being allowed to leave and still go out and be around people. So, I wanted to have that kind of conversation. It’s my opinion that we are not anywhere near close to that type of order,” said Kutscher.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Drew Engelke tried to end the meeting on a positive note, again encouraging people to stay calm at this time.  He especially wanted to ensure the community that supplies are in abundance and that people refrain from hoarding items off the store shelves.

“We are going to get through this. There is plenty of food. I know there is people who are worried. The supply chain is there. You have to respect these truck drivers for getting this supply to us — all those 18-wheelers that we all have on the highways. They are doing their job. So, everyone is stepping up and we are taking this challenge. We are moving forward. This summer, we are all going to be outside and doing everything socially that we normally do so let’s just be calm,” said Engelke.

Guadalupe County is also keeping a close eye on decisions being made across the state. Texas Governor Greg Abbott is still deciding whether to enact a statewide stay at home order over coronavirus.  He says it’s important to stay flexible but promised he was looking at data and consulting with doctors.  The governor has been pressured by Texas Democrats to issue a statewide order similar to other states.  Abbott noted it does appear people are still venturing outside even though they should practice social distancing to stop the spread of the virus.  Multiple Texas cities and counties have issued stay at home orders.  Over 700 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Texas with almost a dozen deaths.