Disaster Declaration Renewed Here Amidst Scrutiny

A trio of citizens spoke regarding the Commissioners Court decision to extend the COVID-19 disaster declaration of Fayette County at a meeting Thursday, Sept. 24. The declaration has been in place since March 13. Commissioners have renewed it every two weeks since then.

The vote to extend the disaster declaration was the first item of business at Thursday’s meeting. Pct. 4 Commissioner and County Judge Pro Tem Tom Muras presided over Thursday’s meeting. County Judge Joe Weber was on vacation last week, according to his office staff. The four commissioners voted unanimously to extend the declaration. But when Muras called for the vote, someone in the gallery protested by voicing a “nay.”

During the public comment period that followed, citizen Katie Hamborsky of West Point asked whether the Commissioners’ vote to extend the disaster declaration was needed for the County to receive state or federal funds related to the crisis.

“We are not receiving any money directly as a result of the disaster declaration,” said assistant county attorney Blake Watson. “There are no grant monies coming in as a result of that. We have received some money, supplies and things like that for coronavirus aid, but that’s not directly tied to what we’re doing every two weeks here.”

“This declaration is just to hand down what the governor and the state would like to see people doing to keep everybody safe,” said Muras.

“I’m sure we’ll continue to do that, and to wear our masks,” Muras said. “I urge everyone to take care of themselves, and if you do, you’re going to take care of your neighbor, too. Everybody would be safer that way.”

Watson said the local disaster declaration “follows the state regulations and the federal regulations regarding what’s being recommended.”

“So a long as that’s in place, will you extend it?” asked La

“Likely, that’s kind of a judgement call we base on what’s going on everywhere else and what’s going on here in Fayette County,” Watson said. “There’s a lot to take in consideration.”

Cisneros asked about the criteria the Commissioners Court considers before making the decision to extend the declaration.

“We look at everything as a whole,” Watson said. “If you’re asking whether we look at anything specifically we can list out, no. It changes week to week as we’ve gone through this. Are we on the rise? Are we on the fall? A lot of that changes every so often.”

Winchester citizen Tom Hudson asked whether the County would pursue a waiver to the coronavirus restrictions if active cases fall below 20, as allowed by Governor Greg Abbott’s emergency order.

Muras said he recently learned about that provision.

“Llano County recently did that,” Muras said. “I think you can go with less restrictions if the number falls below that.”

Active and probable cases continue to fall, as reported by the Fayette County Office of Emergency Management. As of last Friday, the County reported 37 confirmed active and 15 probable cases. There were more than 150 active cases in mid-July.

“If we were to fall under the 20 person mark … that would certainly be something we would put into consideration with what we do with the disaster declaration,” Watson said.

Watson noted that Fayette County declared a local disaster before Abbott put in place some restrictions, such as the mask mandate.

“That doesn’t mean we’ll get rid of it just because we fall below 20 people,” Watson said. Grange area citizen Polly Cisneros.

Fayette County Emergency Management Chief Craig Moreau said most counties that got a waiver from the Governor asked to remove the 50 percent occupancy rule.

“The mask mandate was sometimes but not always included as well,” Moreau said.

However, Moreau suggested Fayette County may have a tough time proving it has less than 20 cases.

“We might have a hurdle at that point,” Moreau said.

That day, Moreau said, the County was reporting a combined 54 active and probable cases while the Texas Department of State Health Services reported more than 160 active cases in Fayette County.

“The official state number is ridiculously high and hasn’t been updated in a long, long time,” Moreau said. “There are people in this room who had coronavirus months ago and are still on (the state’s) active list.”

Moreau said he hopes the State is able to soon emerge from the shutdowns.

“It has been a long time since the ‘14 days to (flatten) the curve,’” Moreau said, referring to the popular slogan that kicked off the nationwide shutdowns back in March. “There’s mounting frustration by a lot of people inside the county and outside the county, both employees and citizens.

Cisneros and Hamborsky both questioned the effectiveness of mask wearing and asked Commissioners whether they have reviewed scientific studies involving the coronavirus and masks. Cisneros offered to provide Commissioners with studies showing the coronavirus can pass through most of the cloth masks that people commonly wear.

Moreau said studies overwhelmingly show that mask wearing is effective at stopping the spread. However, he said it remains unclear whether that is due to the physical barrier of a mask or behavioural changes on the part of mask wearers.