Last week, Cameron and Hidalgo County issued orders that mandate their residents to not leave their houses. According to Cameron County’s order, shelter in place means that individuals living at Cameron county “shall shelter at their place of residence for a period of 14 days.”
Cameron County Judge, Eddie Treviño Jr. says through a Public Service Announcement on their YouTube channel that all confirmed cases in the county have been travel related.
All of the cases that we have had so far, we have six, have been confirmed travel cases, in order words they either travel to another part of the country or they travel to Europe…
The shelter in place has some exemptions that include “essential personal activities” from visiting doctors to veterinarians, or to buy groceries and medicines.
Other exemptions include those who work essential infrastructure operations, such as governmental functions, grocery stores, and pharmacies. The orders state that people who do not comply will receive a fine of up to a thousand dollars or up to a hundred eighty days in jail. Accounting Senior, Krystal Silva says she does not think there is a difference made with the shelter in place order.
…[And] I really don’t think there is much of a difference that has been made with the exemption of people maybe being fined or thrown in jail if they don’t comply…
Some residents have been affected by the shelter in place in many ways. An example is Criminal Justice Senior, Rolando Villanueva. Who says although he is in favor of the order, he lost his job.
So I was affected by it, I worked at a restaurant at Brownsville, and we all, a lot of us lost our jobs, we all have to like restart applying, applying for unemployment or applying for other jobs…
Cameron County’s order is set to end on April eight, and Hidalgo County’s order until April tenth. The dates are subject to change by Cameron County’s Commissioner’s Court and for Hidalgo County Judge Cortez will decide on whether to extend the order.
To keep up with the county’s precaution measures visit co.cameron.tx.us or hidalgocounty.us.
Reporter Victor Rivero
