Brownsville mayor issues disaster declaration

BROWNSVILLE — Brownsville Mayor Juan "Trey" Mendez III issued a disaster declaration on Tuesday.

"The lessons we are learning from communities across the nation and the globe is that aggressive measures implemented sooner rather than later promise to protect our community and our community's most vulnerable members," Mendez said.

According to a news release from the city of Brownsville, the disaster declaration includes the following measures:

* Restaurants and bars are limited to 50% of occupancy in order to comply with social distancing effective Wednesday – delivery and takeout is strongly encouraged.

* Downtown city metered parking will be immediately suspended.

* Places of worship, movie theaters and gymnasiums shall be limited to 50% of their occupancy and comply with social distancing.

*Private or “community gatherings” of individuals over 50 are banned until further notice – community gatherings don't not include spaces where 50 or more people may be in transit or buses, trains or airplanes, waiting for transit such as airports, bus stops or terminals. In addition, “community gatherings” does not include the following spaces where 50 or more persons may congregate, so as long as visitors are generally within arm’s length of one another for extended periods: office space, grocery stores, shopping malls, movie theaters, hospitals, medical offices and facilities.

*Bingo establishments are closed.

*Child and adult day care centers, effective Wednesday, shall be limited to 50 occupants or 50% of their legal occupancy - whichever is lower.

*All schools are closed, effective immediately.

*All city libraries are closed, effective immediately.

*Brownsville bus service, BMetro will be implementing social distancing measures.

*The Brownsville/South Padre Island Airport will limit access into the terminal building to ticketed passengers only.

*City events are cancelled effectively on Wednesday until further notice.

*General public and private community events are cancelled effectively on Wednesday until further notice.

* Meetings of city advisory boards, commissions and bureaus are cancelled effective Wednesday until further notice.

* Private events on city facilities are cancelled effective Wednesday until further notice - fees and deposits for the facility rentals will be refunded or applied toward a rescheduled event.

* The peace officers, city of Brownsville health inspectors, code enforcement/ordinance officers/inspectors, traffic specialists and Brownsville fire marshal are authorized to enforce the order.

A violation of the order is a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed $500.

The measures will remain in place until March 24, 2020.