BAD STATS, CHASTENED CITY UPS RESTAURANT OCCUPANCY FROM 25 TO 50%, CDC BANS RENTER EVICTIONS UNTIL 2021

(Ed.'s Note: And our neighbors to the west, Hidalgo County is not doing much better, reporting 19 more deaths on Tuesday to bring the total number of fatalities in the county to 1,450 and the total of confirmed coronavirus cases to 29,721.

A testament to the skewered stats generated by municipalities and the state over COVID-19, the two-county total exceeded the number of deaths reported by the state (30 to 21).


Meanwhile, the City of Brownsville amended its amended amended amended order and heeded the warnings in a letter from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton it could face legal challenges in court if it did not conform to the emergency orders issued by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

According to the letter, Executive Order GA-28 allows gyms and restaurants to open at up to 50 percent capacity, as opposed to the city’s limitation of 25 percent. The city had been issuing citations based on Mayor Trey Mendez's 25 percent capacity rules which will now cease.

The attorney general’s office stressed that it is up to gym and restaurant establishments, not local governments, to decide their capacity under the 50 percent rule.

On Tuesday's city commission meeting, the agenda item was moved to their executive session.

After the executive session and some clarifications on how best to conform to the orders, the city voted to mirror the governor’s orders. They commissioners also lowered the city's COVID-19 Threat Matrix from red level four (4) to orange level three (3). Level 3 signifies a significant and an uncontrolled level of COVID-19 in Brownsville

Local justices of the peace are also prevented from approving evictions of renters. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention implemented a temporary eviction moratorium through the end of the year, protecting U.S. renters

The CDC’s moratorium will apply to all rental units nationwide until Dec. 31 and goes into effect immediately. The moratorium would cover around 40 million renters nationally.

A previous federal eviction moratorium created by the CARES Act ended n July and only applied to federally-funded housing, including rental units with mortgages backed by federal mortgage agencies. The moratorium will apply to any state in which there is not already a more protective ban in effect, according to the order.

Tenants must sing a declaration under penalty of perjury that they cannot pay the rent and hand it to their renter.)