Why Easter Sunday could be the riskiest time for Fort Worth’s coronavirus outbreak
The Fort Worth area is entering the most dangerous phase of the novel coronavirus outbreak, city and county health officials said Tuesday, noting that cases of the virus are likely to increase even if a surge on hospitals is avoided.
The city and county stay-at-home orders and mandates on social distancing, which have been continued through April 30, appear to to have lessened the effect of the virus on hospitals, said Brandon Bennett, Fort Worth’s health officer and commander of the emergency operations center. But if residents do not heed warnings about the virus, Tarrant County will see an increase in COVID-19 patients.
“This is one of the more risky times in viral transmission,” Bennett said. “This is the time when we really need people to stay at home, to isolate and social distance ... it’s critical.”
Tarrant County’s top health official, Vinny Taneja, said he’s concerned — especially as Easter looms — that people aren’t following stay-at-home orders as much as they did when the orders first came out.
After an emergency was first declared March 13, Taneja said he saw a major slowdown in traffic.
Now he is seeing an uptick of traffic, particularly around lunch time, Taneja said Tuesday after county commissioners met to formally approve Judge Glen Whitley’s extended disaster order calling on residents to stay at home until April 30. The Fort Worth City Council approved the same extension Tuesday afternoon.
“That tells me people are starting to get complacent,” Taneja said. “We are starting to see an increase in numbers. So this would be a good time to pay attention and stay home.”
Especially because the expected surge of COVID-19 cases could come before the end of the month.
As of Tuesday, there were 517 coronavirus cases in Tarrant County, with 18 deaths and 53 recoveries. Dallas County reported more than 100 new cases Tuesday, bringing the total there to 1,261.
While Fort Worth and Tarrant County enacted guidelines to curb coronavirus after Dallas, Bennett said those restrictions came at a time when local spread was not as strong as in Dallas.
“We have not peaked yet,” said Commissioner Roy Brooks, who participated in the county commissioner meeting by phone. “Though we feel good about the persons who have recovered, (and) accept that as a blessing, that is not an indication that we are reaching any kind of peak in this community.”
He and others said there could be countless people infected with coronavirus who aren’t showing symptoms or even know they are ill.
“All we can do is try to do the best job we can do of treating those patients who present” symptoms, Brooks said. “And urge everybody in the county ... stay at home.”
That includes bypassing big family gatherings for Easter.
Bennett stressed that Easter Sunday and Passover could be make or break for Fort Worth’s ability to weather the outbreak without a rush on hospitals. A spike in patients could occur within five to seven days after the Easter holiday, if people gather in large groups, which Bennett called “unacceptable.”
“We are far better off, celebrating this Easter at home and looking forward to a grander Easter in years to come,” Bennett said.
The city Tuesday announced it will close vehicle access to popular city parks on Easter Sunday. Gatherings of any kind outside of a household have been banned, including worship services, Easter parties and egg hunts.
And Tarrant County’s latest order notes that when community spread is substantial, which Whitley said it is now, then “houses of worship should cancel all in-person gatherings of any size.” However, a “guide” to the order says when it comes to worship services “all in-person gatherings of any size are prohibited.”
However, Whitley noted that if a church held a service in the parking lot, and people stayed in their cars and listened to the service, for instance, on the radio, that would not violate the order.
Taneja called on residents to scale down celebrations, and mark the holiday with their immediate family if they all live in the same home.
“I know it’s very hard. We want to be with extended family,” he said. “Please, take this seriously. You don’t want to give it to a grandma or a grandpa when you don’t even you you had it.”
On Tuesday, commissioners formally approved Whitley’s modified disaster order that also expanded the definition of essential businesses and removed a reference to grocery store price gouging because the Attorney General’s office will handle those cases.
Whitley after the meeting said he’s not holding out much hope that he will be able to lift the order before the end of the month.
“Folks need to understand we are watching this on a daily basis, we are talking with our health community, with our hospitals, and if we feel like we can relax it a little bit, we are going to do it,” he said. “It’s so important to stay at home right now.
“The only way we are going to beat this is to do that social distancing, let this thing kind of work its way through and then we can hopefully start again.”
Bennett said it is possible stay-at-home orders will continue into May.
By the third week of April, Bennett expects to be able to project if the stay-at-home order should be continued or scaled back. He expects the city will slowly reopen, if viral transmission has flattened, rather than rescinding all of the order at once.
Beds, masks and more
Taneja told commissioners that 131 hospital beds are being used by those sick with COVID-19.
There are more than 2,100 available hospital beds, and more can become available soon, he said. There are around 700 ventilators, with about 200 in use, and those are not necessarily from people fighting coronavirus, he said.
He encouraged people to follow CDC guidelines for wearing masks — even if they are homemade — when they are out in public.
“Make sure your mouth and nose are covered,” he said. “If everybody does it, we have a very good shot of cutting down transmission in our county.”
A spike of cases was expected to hit Texas around May 5 when hospitals were expected to be overcrowded with patients, according to projections from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. That projection has moved the spike to April 19, when there will be more than enough beds to handle coronavirus patients in the state.
Projections show that the curve in new cases may be flattening, meaning the peak is becoming less extreme, Bennett said. While hospitals are seeing new coronavirus patients at a steady rate, it has not out paced available intensive care beds or ventilators.
That could change if people do not stay at home.
“We’re going to see a spike in patients that don’t make it through the virus, and they die,” he said.
As for when to change masks, he said they are designed to be disposable, for single use. Generally people will wear them all day long. “When they get moist and dirty, you throw them away,” Taneja said.
During the county’s meeting, public comment came in through phone calls.
One resident said she was concerned about those in jail and how they can’t protect themselves by social distancing. Another resident said she would like to see the number of coronavirus cases broken down by race. And former Texas House Speaker Gib Lewis of Fort Worth sent in a letter praising county leaders for the work they are doing to keep the community safe.
Tarrant County commissioners also extended pandemic pay for county workers for another week. This pay covers employees at work, those who telecommute and any employee sent home who can be called back to work at any time.
Taneja stressed during the meeting that there’s no vaccine, and no cure, and said it’s up to every resident to take coronavirus seriously and stay home to reduce the spread.
“We are in this together as a community and we need to work together,” he said. “And we will get through this.”
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 4:20 PM.
