Tarrant County warns of possible COVID-19 spike, approves Nov. election voting sites
While COVID-19 data in Tarrant County has declined since late July, health officials say the numbers have now flat-lined and another spike could come.
Vinny Taneja, the county’s public health director, told the Tarrant County Commissioners Court on Tuesday that the county’s positivity rate had been declining until September, but it is now bouncing between 9 and 10% while the state’s positivity rate has continued to fall and now sits at around 6%.
“We’re not declining and that’s concerning,” Taneja said. “Something’s brewing.”
Taneja said his belief is supported by hospitalizations and COVID-like illness data.
According to county data, the seven-day moving average of hospitalizations for confirmed COVID-19 patients has flat-lined at about 220. COVID-like illness data, which shows the percent of emergency room visits in which patients reported COVID-like symptoms, has flat-lined at about 1.5% per day for the last three weeks.
On Sept. 1, Taneja warned that the public must avoid large gatherings and keep Labor Day celebrations within an immediate family setting to avoid a spike of coronavirus cases.
County Judge Glen Whitley said in a press conference after the meeting that the county would know if the Labor Day holiday causes a spike in the next three weeks. But for now, the message is the same it’s always been: wear a mask, social distance and wash your hands.
Schools reopening
During Taneja’s presentation, he told the commissioners that no school district in Tarrant County meets the requirements to be recommended for full in-person learning. Instead, most should consider hybrid learning, which is a mix of in-person and online classes.
Taneja said the county looks closely at the positivity rate, COVID-like illness, new case trends, hospitalizations and other data to determine whether a school should go fully back into classrooms. Most data in the county has become stable but isn’t declining, which puts schools in the category where officials recommend they consider hybrid learning.
In Fort Worth, school officials were scheduled to meet Tuesday evening to discuss whether the district will remain online longer. The agenda for the meeting said the board would discuss whether to extend the back-to-school transition process by an additional four weeks.
Election sites
With election day fast approaching, the commissioners unanimously approved early and election day voting sites for the Nov. 3 special and general election.
Early voting sites will be available across the county. Early voting starts on Oct. 13 and runs through Oct. 30. There will be 50 sites participating in early voting including colleges across the county such as UT Arlington and Tarrant County College. Texas Christian University will not participate as a polling location for this election because university officials wanted the county to enforce face coverings on voters, which isn’t possible.
The approved early voting sites also includes a contingency plan. The commissioners can vote to amend the voting schedule and add eight additional sites if the early voting turnout is too big. They would vote for this on Oct. 20.
Whitley said the goal is to keep the crowds down and keep people safe while they vote during the pandemic.
For Nov. 3, there will be 332 locations for voters, Heider Garcia, the county’s elections administrator, told commissioners.
Leading up to this election, mail-in ballots have been a hot topic. Garcia said he estimates that his office will send out close to 50,000 mail-in ballots.
Once a voter receives their mail-in ballot, they can immediately fill it out and take it to the county’s election office, Garcia said. His office is also working on opening a drive-thru where people can stay in their cars while dropping off the ballot.
For most, dropping off the ballot seems like a great option if they’re worried about sending their ballot through mail, Whitley said.
Whitley said he’s heard concerns with mail-in ballots but believes the county is in great shape to make it work.
In the July election, a voter never received his mail-in ballot due to a clerical error. Voter Tim Runkle of Fort Worth was the only voter affected by the issue, Garcia told the Star-Telegram on Aug. 28 and stressed that the Elections Department is putting in place measures to prevent it from happening again.
Runkle’s ballot request was posted on the wrong line in his voter file, meaning he was never added to the list of absentee ballots to be sent out — even though he should have been.
The country has also been battling with mail-in ballot issues. After the U.S. Postal Service’s warning that there’s a risk some mail-in ballots may be delivered too late to be counted for the November election under Texas’ deadlines, civil rights groups and lawmakers urged Gov. Greg Abbott in separate letters to allow for county election officials to accept mail-in ballots seven days after Election Day. Other states, like Pennsylvania, have already sought to extend their deadlines.
For more information, Tarrant County voters can learn more about registering to vote or requesting a mail-in ballot by visiting the Tarrant County Elections website or calling 817-831-8683.
This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 5:42 PM.
