As everyone has noticed, there has been a huge spike in COVID-19 cases in Terry County recently. Health officials say they cannot point to any one event as being a cause for this. But, with the Harvest Festival coming this weekend, there is concern that the numbers will climb even higher.
City Manager Jeff Davis issued the following statement addressing the spike:
“As everyone know there has been a significant spike in COVID-19 cases in Brownfield and Terry County over the last few days. Currently Terry County has the most active cases since this all began in March. We believe there has been “COVID Fatigue” in our community. Everyone please remember the simple things we do can help prevent the spread. Wearing face masks, social distancing and sanitizing your hands will go a long way to prevent the spread of this ugly virus. If you are sick, or someone in your family is sick, stay home. I do not know how many times I have heard the ‘it’s just a sinus infection’ phrase that turns out to be a positive case of COVID-19 and exposed everyone around them. This goes back to rule of, if you are sick stay home. There is no specific event or cause of this recent spike. Remember this virus is community spread. Recently there has been several confirmed cases that are not quarantining per direction of medical professionals or Texas Department of State Health Services. We are working with SPPHD and law enforcement on these people who refuse to stay home.
“This week is Harvest Festival week, the talent show is Thursday evening, and the Harvest Festival Parade begins at 10:00 Saturday followed by the festivities in the Park. All these events would be considered large gatherings and will fall under the category of “Higher Risk” under the CDC guidelines. They define higher risk as: medium-sized in-person gatherings that are adapted to allow individuals to remain spaced at least 6 feet apart and with attendees coming from outside the local area.
“The Director of the South Plains Public Health District has strongly discouraged this event and any other large events due to the recent spike in cases in Terry County. The director wanted his thought expressed to the leaders of our community, and believes we will see another spike related to this week’s events. Below are the case numbers of Terry County and the other Counties of SPPHD as of tonight (Wednesday). I do not think we want to be in the same situations as some of the other members SPPHD.
“We, as community leaders, can help to continue these events by encouraging everyone to stay home if you are sick, wear your mask, social distance and keep your hands sanitized.”
We, at TownTalk Radio, would echo what Davis is saying. Even if you do not believe masks work, please wear a mask when you are out in local businesses. We want to keep our businesses open. We want to keep our students attending school in person. We want to keep our kids getting to play the sports they love. We want to keep going out and attending these events. So, please, please practice safe social distancing. Sanitize your hands often. Wear your mask. And stay home if you are sick.
With the Talent Show and the Harvest Festival coming this week, it is highly important that we be cautious in all we do. Please consider others in making your decisions about how to protect yourself.
Here are out current numbers and the numbers from neighboring counties:
