Texas’ Coryell County issued a stay at home order on Wednesday, one day after the City of Gatesville issued its own order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Only thirteen cases of the virus have been confirmed in Coryell County and in Gatesville, the Lane Murray state prison is locked down after four inmates tested positive for coronavirus.

Unique in comparison with other county decrees, the Coryell County order also bars nonresidents from entering the county “except for those people working in the county under (the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s) list of essential critical infrastructure services and those individuals seeking emergency medical treatment.”

On Wednesday, County Judge Roger Miller said, “It was never a question of ‘would the virus come to our county,’ it was only a matter of when it appeared.”

“Well, it’s here and we need to stop the spread,” he stated. “The virus doesn’t spread on its own, people spread it. It’s critical that we stop cross-contaminating each other.”

A concerned citizen who reached out to the Copperas Cove Police Department online was told Judge Miller declared citizens “can’t come from Lampasas County to shop at the Cove HEB unless you’re a Lampasas County resident living within the city limits of Copperas Cove.”

The citizen asked if they would be checking ID’s at the grocery store doors and the police department replied, “There has been direction provided to our officers and it doesn’t include checking ID’s at the store.”

The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!