SD 11 SREC: COVID-19 update #3 from State Representative Dennis Paul

COVID-19 Update

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Harris County Issues “Stay Home, Work Safe” Order

(Harris County, TX) - Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, and local health authorities have issued an official order advising non-essential businesses to shut down and for residents to stay home except for essential activities. This order will go into effect today at 11:59 p.m., March 24, 2020, and will remain in place until 11:59PM on April 3, 2020.

To view the full text of the order please click here.

Harris County Launches Online Screening Tool to Streamline COVID-19 Testing, Two Additional Testing Sites for Residents

Residents Experiencing Symptoms Can Self-Assess Online to Schedule an Appointment

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Dr. Umair Shah, Executive Director of Harris County Public Health, City of Houston partners on Monday announced an online COVID-19 assessment tool for residents who believe they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms such as fever or dry cough. The online screening tool is available now at ReadyHarris.org.

The sites will only test people pre-identified as high-risk through a two-step screening process. The initial screening will be online with only those meeting certain risk criteria moving on to a phone-based screening with a medical professional. Only after the phone screening will qualified residents be directed to a testing site.

Anyone requiring technical assistance or translations services is encouraged to call the Harris County Public Health call bank, which is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., at 832-927-7575.

Residents are urged not to show up at a testing site without an appointment as they will not be seen, and this slows the process for others. Anyone experiencing a life-threatening emergency should call 911.

"We received supplies from the federal government to scale up our testing sites, and we are now open for business for the community at large," Judge Hidalgo said. "Testing is a critical tool in helping us manage the spread, but it's not treatment. We still don't have a treatment for this virus or a vaccine. That's why our best tool is to practice social distancing and stay at home."

"This screening tool allows our region to self-assess. We know there are a lot of concerns in our community, with people worrying if symptoms require evaluation or testing," Dr. Shah said. "The vast majority of people who complete this screening will be reassured that they don’t need testing or evaluation at this time."

About half of all Harris County cases are related to community spread, Dr. Shah said.

Residents can go to ReadyHarris.org to begin the screening process. The online screening tool will be available in multiple languages starting tomorrow and will also be integrated with the City of Houston's testing site in the coming days. High-risk symptomatic residents can be tested regardless of documentation status and there is no cost for testing. Each testing site will be capable of conducting 250 tests per day, per testing site. County testing sites have sufficient testing capacity for the next few days and County officials expect additional resources from the federal government in the coming days.

MealFinder Map for Texas Students Now Live — Visit TXSchools.gov to find more than 1,000 sites for free school meals

AUSTIN, Tex. – Texas parents can now visit the TXSchools.gov MealFinder Map to find locations near them where local school systems are offering free school meals—both breakfast and lunch—for pick-up while school buildings are closed because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Launched by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), in partnership with the Office of the Governor and Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA), the TXSchools.gov MealFinder Map is designed to help parents and students easily find school meals during the unprecedented disruption to schools caused by COVID-19.

Once parents go to the site, they click “Meal Pick-Up Locations” to bring up a map of locations. Parents can type their address, and the map will zoom into meal pick-up locations that are up and running near them.

School systems around the state have responded to coronavirus with an outpouring of compassion and operational excellence. In less than 8 days since the first school closures were announced, more than 1,000 schools have launched Meal Pick-Up Locations. That number is expected to rise daily, so parents should check back on TXSchools.gov next week and the week after as more and more meal locations are launched.

In terms of terms of eligibility, TDA has provided extensive guidance to help school systems, based on federal rules. In locations where more than 50 percent of students are eligible for a free or reduced-price lunch, free meals can be made available for every child who visits the meal site. In places below that threshold, closed enrolled sites can be established to target individually eligible students.

With Governor Greg Abbott’s issuance of an Executive Order on Thursday to temporarily close schools statewide through April 3, Texas is taking the lead to ensure that our students will continue to have uninterrupted access to meals, no matter how long school campuses are closed. We all remain committed first and foremost to the health and safety of our students, families, and communities.

Governor Abbott Announces Increased PPE Supply, Issues Executive Order To Strengthen Reporting Capabilities

Governor Greg Abbott today held a press conference to provide an update on incoming supplies of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other resources to aid Texas’ response to COVID-19. The Governor announced that the newly established Supply Chain Strike Force has already secured more than $83 million of purchase orders for essential supplies. Additionally, the Governor announced that the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) will begin receiving 100,000 masks per day by the end of this week and the Supply Chain Strike Force will begin receiving an additional 100,000 masks per day by the end of next week—meaning the State of Texas will soon be receiving more than one million masks per week.

The Governor also announced the launch of an online portal run by the Supply Chain Strike Force to streamline the process and validation of leads for more supplies. The portal, accessible through www.texas.gov, will serve as an intake process for those wanting to provide valid leads on PPE and donations. The portal also serves as a portal for those wanting to donate supplies, services, or your time—including medical professionals and nurses looking to volunteer.

“The State of Texas is rapidly accelerating the purchasing and delivery of essential personal protection equipment and other supplies to aid in our COVID-19 response,” said Governor Abbott. “The Supply Chain Strike Force is working in concert with the Texas Division of Emergency Management to secure these vital resources and to swiftly distribute them to medical professionals, hospitals, and first responders in communities throughout the state. We thank all those who have already offered donations to meet our supply needs. I urge all Texans who would like to donate essential supplies and all medical professionals who are willing to volunteer their time and expertise to visit www.texas.gov to find out how they can help.”

The Governor also issued an Executive Order to better track both hospital bed capacity and COVID-19 test results across the state. The Executive Order requires all hospitals, excluding psychiatric hospitals, to submit daily reports on hospital bed capacity to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) who will then share this information with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The order also requires every public or private entity utilizing FDA-approved COVID-19 tests to submit daily reports of all results to the local health department and DSHS who will then share this information with the CDC.

The Governor wa