Archives for April 2020

(Editor's Note: The City updated its disaster declaration Friday morning, revising its list of essential businesses. The entire revised order can be found at the link at the end of this article.)

Mayor Sandy Skelton has issued a “stay at home” order for residents of the City of Clarendon effective at 11:59 p.m., April 2, 2020.

City Hall said the mayor issued the ordered out of an abundance of caution due to the increased number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Donley County. As of Thursday morning, April 2, there are three confirmed cases in the county.

The order, which expires on April 30, requires all persons living in the city to stay at their place of residence; however, all persons may leave their residences for essential activities, such as working in an essential business or performing an essential task like going to the grocery store.

The city’s action follows closely what Gov. Greg Abbott ordered for the entire state on Tuesday.

“If you’re not engaged in an essential service or activity, then you need to be at home for the purpose of slowing the spread of COVID-19,” Abbott said.

City Administrator David Dockery said the local disaster declaration that has previously been approved by the City Council gives Skelton the authority to issue the order.

“The mayor hopes everyone will heed this order and remain in place unless performing an essential task,” Dockery said.

The text of the mayor’s order is as follows: Clarendon Revised Stay-At-Home Order

Judge John Howard, MD, announced this morning that a third case of the COVID-19 virus has been confirmed in a Donley County resident.

Howard was notified by the state health department that a resident who works outside Donley County was tested outside of the county and was positive for the disease. That person is now in self-quarantine at home.

As with the previous two cases, Howard said this also appears to be a case of “community spread,” which in terms of COVID-19 pandemic  means they could have picked up the virus anywhere. The judge said they could have picked it up in our own community or in Amarillo or from a gas pump some where else.

“I’ve said it before, ‘Consider everything you touch to be contaminated,'” Howard said.

The judge also said the local cases fortunately are not the severe cases that some areas have seen, which require hospitalization and sometimes a ventilator. These cases are doing well at home currently, he said.

Howard again urged people to comply with social distancing guidelines and to follow the governor’s orders limiting public gatherings. He said people who ignore the risk and the guidelines need to be reminded that they can still transmit the disease to others.

The second and third confirmed cases of COVID-19 were tested outside of Donley County.  At the Clarendon clinic, as of yesterday, there had been a total of 17 tests submitted, one of which was positive, five were negative, and 11 were pending.

Local officials have no way of knowing how many local residents may have been tested outside of the county as they are only informed by the state of positive test results.

A second case of the COVID-19 virus has been confirmed in Donley County, Judge John Howard reported Wednesday afternoon, April 1.

The patient in question was not treated or tested locally but was instead hospitalized, tested, and discharged in Amarillo. Texas Department of State Health Services Region One office confirmed to Howard that the patient received a positive test result.

The patient is medically stable and recovering at their residence under medical quarantine, Howard said.

“Local government officials are now aware of this case and have taken steps to ensure public safety,” Howard said. “The patient is under a self-quarantine, and steps can and will be taken if someone violates a self-quarantine.”

The judge said the patient in the first local COVID-19 case announced yesterday is also doing medically well, is stable, and is improving at home under quarantine.

“Residents of Donley County are strongly advised to follow CDC guidance in order to prevent further spread of the disease in our community,” Howard said.

Donley County reported its first case of the COVID-19 virus Tuesday morning, March 31.

Judge John Howard, MD, said his medical office received notification of lab results late Monday night showing a positive test for the disease and pledged that he would be as transparent as possible with information to protect the community.

Howard’s clinic Monday night notified the patient of the need to remain self-isolated and reported the test to the state health department.

On Tuesday, the judge urged citizens to help stop the disease from spreading.

“Now is our window of opportunity to mitigate the spread of this disease in our own community and keep it from becoming more deadly,” Howard said. “Don’t go out unless you have essential work to do.”

As of Tuesday, the state was reporting almost 43,000 residents had been tested for the disease with 3,266 of those being positive. Forty-one Texans had died from the disease.
Locally, Howard reported that a total of 13 people from Donley County had been tested for COVID-19 with one positive, three negative, and nine results pending.

“We ask that citizens of Donley County to continue to be diligent in their efforts to reduce contact with others as much as possible,” Howard said. “Please follow the CDC recommendations for social distancing; eliminate non-essential activity outside your home even if you are well; avoid groups of people; practice good hand washing and sanitizing practices; and if you are feeling ill, please stay home and avoid others in your home as well.”

Federal law restricted the release of specific patient information, and officials did not give any information about the patient regarding the person’s gender, age, or place of residents other than inside Donley County.

“People just need to act like it is the person next door,” Howard said. “Take those precautions.”

Howard said the patient in question is believed to have contracted the virus from community spread (person to person contact contamination) and has not reported any significant travel.

On Monday the cities of Amarillo and Canyon issued orders calling for their residents to stay at home or “shelter in place” in response to COVID-19 cases in Potter and Randall counties.

Judge Howard did not issue a “shelter in place” order for Donley County, asking instead for residents to continue to follow guidelines already outlined for social distancing. He said he asked for and received voluntary compliance from beauty shops and barber shops to close their businesses after Tuesday for public health reasons.

Howard did encourage churches to continue to hold services only by remote broadcasting, online methods, or otherwise in consistent with established guidelines. He also said that while the worship service at the drive-in theatre was probably a good thing, he encouraged people to only ride in cars with their housemates and not to travel with friends.

The judge said that he hopes citizens will take the situation necessarily and follow the guidelines voluntarily, but he also said that he could issue further executive orders in the future as necessary.

“This situation is very fluid and changes from day to day,” Howard said.

For further information on the COVID-19 virus, you can visit the Center for Disease Control website at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nov/index.html. For business’ and individuals that are concerned: please look at the Interim US Guidance for Risk Assessment and Public Health Management of Persons with Potential COVID-19 Exposures.

Howard added that people should contact their health care provider if they have symptoms consistent with the Coronavirus (fever, cough, shortness of breath) to determine if additional evaluation, treatment or testing is appropriate.