El Paso County judge extends stay-at-home order through December

by: KTSM Staff

Posted: Nov 11, 2020 / 03:23 PM GMT-0600 / Updated: Nov 11, 2020 / 05:47 PM GMT-0600

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — During a news conference on Wednesday, El Paso County Judge Ricardo A. Samaniego extended a County stay-at-home order.

The update order, Order No. 14, will stay in effect until Dec. 1, unless an appeals court rules otherwise. Samaniego said he wanted to ensure that the order is in place through Thanksgiving.

The court is expected to rule on the legality of the order later this week. As of now, the order will remain in place, Samaniego said. 8th Court of Appeals grants expedited appeal on shutdown order

“Everyday that the County’s order stays in effect saves lives,” he said.

As Samaniego updated the community on the order, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that he has deployed additional resources to El Paso and Lubbock to help combat COVID-19. These resources include medical personnel, medical equipment, personal protective equipment (PPE), mobile testing sites and more.

“The State of Texas is ensuring that our communities hit the hardest by COVID-19 have the resources and support they need to keep people safe and bring hospitalization rates back down,” said Governor Abbott. “We continue to work closely with local officials in El Paso and Lubbock to meet the needs of each community and mitigate the spread of this virus.”

TDEM and DSHS have deployed over 1,350 medical personnel to the El Paso region with more being deployed as needed. The Alternate Care Site in El Paso, established in late October, is increasing capacity from 65 beds to 100 beds by Friday. Last week, Governor Abbott announced that three U.S. Air Force Medical Specialty Teams have been deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense to assist area hospitals. DSHS has also deployed six AMUs to assist area hospitals with surge capacity. TDEM continues to provide the El Paso community with over 9.1 million masks, over 3 million gloves, over 964,000 gowns and coveralls, and over 245,000 face shields. The State is currently operating eight testing sites across El Paso County.