By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Val Verde County Commissioners Court members voted Tuesday to support continuing efforts to promote vaccinations against COVID-19, but reiterated earlier statements to not mandate the vaccine for county employees.
“Our COVID cases are down. There are 330 active cases. Our age group has switched. For the longest time, we were recording the age group with the most positive cases as 10 to 19 (years old), and now it’s gone to 20 to 29 (years old). The number that’s sad is that we’ve had 243 individuals who have passed, and I will tell you there are a couple of families here in town that have really, really been hit hard,” County Judge Lewis G. Owens told the court at the start of discussions on the area’s current COVID situation.
“There are still vaccines available. We’re not going to mandate vaccinations. This court took action during its last meeting not to mandate the vaccinations for our employees. They can still come to work, but again, the vaccine is still available. Cases are going down,” the county judge added.
County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores said, “Last night (Monday), we lost a young man from Del Rio due to COVID. He was from a well-known family and only in his 40s. It’s pretty sad.
“A lot of us are not vaccinated, and I’ve said it for a long time, how do we help each other? How do we protect our families if we’re not vaccinated? But that’s my opinion. I think we should get vaccinated, as many people as possible,” Flores added.
“Commissioner, I agree with you, but it’s one of those deals where, as we’ve all said, the whole court, and it was a five-zero vote (not to mandate county employees to receive the vaccine),” Owens said.
“I agree with you, commissioner,” Owens continued. “The message needs to get put out. It’s a good thing, but for the president to demand it, it’s an overreach, but that’s just our opinion, and it’s the court’s opinion, because that’s how we voted.
“There’s been a lot of families whose lives have been touched, changed because of individuals that have passed, and we still have quite a few individuals that are in the hospital in San Antonio, and there’s a couple of them that I know, in all reality, probably won’t make it. It’s just sad,” Owens added.
County Commissioner Pct. 1 Martin Wardlaw asked, “Judge, could we do another vote in support of the vaccine?”
“Well, if you want to, do another vote in support of the vaccine . . . we can do a motion in support of getting the vaccine, but not in support of demanding it,” Owens said.
“Is that a motion, commissioner?” the judge asked.
“That’s a motion,” Wardlaw said.
County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton gave the second, and the court approved the motion unanimously.
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