THE DAY BEFORE SHELTER IN PLACE
TODAY
The Cameron County Courthouse on Harrison and Levee streets remain open, albeit operating with skeleton crews.
And constables enforcing the "shelter in place" declaration by Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino say that so far county residents for the most part are adhering to the travel restrictions since it went into effect after midnight Wednesday.
And yet, some of the relatives of the skeleton crews are complaining to the judge's office on why their husbands and wives have to be exposed to COVID-19 when county residents are supposed to avoid going outside their homes and the judicial courts are closed.
"We have very few people coming into the courthouses to do business and we tell them that they can file cases or complaints and to make payments by email," said Pct. 2 Constable abel Gomez. "But the courthouses are still open."
There is some question of whether on the outside chance that one of the staff could get infected by the virus the county can be held legally liable since Gov. Greg Abbott issued the statewide disaster declaration and the county the shelter in place declaration.
"What are the county workers doing there?," asked a relative. "I can understand the maintenance guys or Public Works guys doing essential duties, but you are exposing the ones in the buildings to potential contagion. Trevino is getting too involved in people's business."
Meanwhile, the constables report that in the enforcement of the shelter in place since 12:01 a.m. Wednesday on county roads, all the motorists they encountered had a good reason for being outside their homes. Some had letters from their employers (HEB, WalMart), had medical reasons, and one had a death in the family.
"I was surprised that there were few people on the road, and that those that were had good reason to be outside their homes," said Gomez. "Some had letters from their employers saying they were on their way to work and others had letters from the hospitals or clinics. One had a death in the family. I was surprised how well people are heeding the declaration."
Still others who own businesses think that the shelter in place declaration by Trevino was a bit much of a hardship that had to be borne by the small businessman like the restaurants and stores or offices.
"We used to keep it to 10 people and that was bad enough, but now no one can be on the street," said one. "This is killing the little guy. We don't know if we can keep this up for a full two weeks. The bills have to be paid and if people can't come seek out services, how can we stay in business or keep our workers? It's killing us."