Health

EL PASO, Texas -- El Paso Mayor Dee Margo and Health Authority director Dr. Hector Ocarranza said the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the city and county rose to 30 on Friday as five new infections surfaced.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we've got to get this thing under control once and for all" before we can return to normal, Margo said at an afternoon news conference. He again urged El Pasoans to comply with the stay-at-home order and follow social distancing guidelines to reduce the virus' spread. (You can watch the entire news conference in the video player at the bottom of this article.)

In the 30 case total in El Paso County, 19 of those infected are women while 11 are men. None of those cases involved either first-responders or healthcare workers, officials noted. (The count doesn't include at least a half-dozen other confirmed cases at Fort Bliss.)

Ocarranza said all the patients testing positive were self-isolating and being periodically monitored by health officials. He added that most of the cases were travel-related.

“While we can’t confirm local spread at this time, local spread is something we can expect to see very soon,” said Ocaranza. “People need to change their behavior in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. We should all be practicing social distancing and continue to take precautions by washing your hands regularly.”

The mayor indicated that the city on Monday plan to allocate a $100,000 grant to the local food bank, and match $1 million from the county for a small business lending fund, because of the economic hardships in the community.

Margo also said the city manager was actively looking for ways to reduce city expenses due to the fiscal downturn caused by the virus response, most notably the stay-at-home order and border crossing restrictions.