April 17, 2020 • Local News
El Paso leaders say El Paso hasn't reached peak; reopening unknown
Story Link: https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/el-paso-leaders-say-el-paso-hasnt-reached-peak-reopening-unknown
El Paso leaders say El Paso hasn't reached peak; reopening unknown
EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — President Donald Trump announced Thursday a gradual plan to reopen the U.S. and ease social distancing rules.
KFOX14 spoke to El Paso County judge Ricardo Samaniego who said he thinks normality will return until September.
El Paso mayor Dee Margo said El Paso is not at the peak yet.
“We must have a working economy and we want to get it back very, very quickly and that’s what’s going to happen,” said President Trump.
Margo said El Paso is far from reopening despite the president’s announcement.
El Paso leaders say El Paso hasn't reached peak; reopening unknown
“Our positive numbers have set a new record. Until there is some form of plateauing then were not going to be in a position to make a judgement this is lives vs livelihood,” said Margo.
Officials with the city of El Paso announced 58 additional cases and a new death.
Total cases in El Paso County stand at 451 and a total of seven deaths.
President Trump gave most authority to governors, but the cities and counties can go further.
“The governor sets the minimum standards, we can go above him, we cannot go below him,” said Margo.
“I would love to be proven wrong. I would love to be able to be ready in July or end of July or early August, but the numbers aren’t showing that at this point and when they change, I will change my mind,” said Samaniego.
Samaniego said El Paso is different than any other city in Texas.
“We have to look at where Juarez is at, so that we can now sort of help them, so we can’t lift the order if they haven’t addressed their situation because then it will come across the border. We can’t pretend like this border is going to protect us,” he said.
El Paso health authority Dr. Hector Ocoranza said they use several modeling projections as resources such as the University of Texas model but mostly they are watching how people follow social distancing in El Paso.
“Nobody is going to take care of us like we’ll take care of ourselves. What happened in inner New York or in San Antonio or anywhere else is not an indication of what we should be doing,” said Samaniego.
“Specifically, I would say we will get back to normal as soon as everyone is abiding by the emergency order and social distancing which will then manifest itself in a reduction of the number of positives and hopefully number of deaths,” said Margo.
Samaniego said he is working with his legal department to see if they can make the Stay-At-Home order stricter in El Paso.
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