A Texas city is so burdened with COVID-19 patients that an entire county is relying on inmates earning $2 an hour to help move the bodies of victims to mobile morgues outside of its medical examiner’s office, according to The Texas Tribune. The inmates are part of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office’s trustee program, which uses four to eight inmates with misdemeanor offenses to do the grueling work from 8 AM to 4 PM. "Trustees refused to work unless they were compensated,” Chris Acosta, a spokesperson for the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, told the newspaper.
El Paso is reporting 769 COVID-19 related deaths, 1,111 people hospitalized due to the virus, and 300 people in intensive care units. “Having to use inmates tells the story of how short-handed we must be,” El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego told KFOX14.
While Americans are dying, President Donald Trump—who took to Twitter to brag about election wins in the state of Texas—is again patting himself on the back, this time for a coronavirus vaccine that by early trials is 94.5% effective. And far be it from Trump to exercise one morsel of humility or empathy for the victims who died long before the promise of the vaccine. The president tweeted Monday: “Another Vaccine just announced. This time by Moderna, 95% effective. For those great ‘historians’, please remember that these great discoveries, which will end the China Plague, all took place on my watch!”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is falling right in line with the president and also offering up his congratulations. “The Moderna Vaccine announced today was found to be highly effective at preventing Covid,” he tweeted Monday. “President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed is yielding phenomenal results that will save millions of lives. This adds to the drug therapies we are distributing today.”
When Abbott, however, had an opportunity to act preventatively, he passed, apparently focusing on campaigning for Trump instead if his Twitter account is any indication. Judge Samaniego issued an order to shut down nonessential businesses Oct. 29 through Dec. 1, but local business owners and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton blocked that effort on appeal, The Texas Tribune reported. Businesses can instead remain open with 50% capacity. Bars must remain closed, but restaurants can offer dine-in services up until 9 PM, the newspaper reported.
Meanwhile, the state is reporting more than 1 million coronavirus cases and 19,559 deaths. That’s more cases than any other state, The New York Times reported last week. Video KFOX obtained shows El Paso County inmates wearing gowns, masks, and gloves as they loaded the bodies of COVID-19 victims onto mobile morgues. "I cry for El Paso," Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and health economist, tweeted Saturday.
RELATED: El Paso triples mobile morgues as COVID-19 surges, Texas governor sues to reopen El Paso
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Source: Daily Kos
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