All three counties surrounding Cedar Creek Lake now cite COVID-19 cases, making observance of public health orders related to the coronavirus epidemic essential, according to local officials.
Kaufman, Henderson and Van Zandt Counties report a total of seven cases of COVID-19 with four, one and two respectively.
Dallas County, 50 miles northwest of Cedar Creek Lake, has 549 cases, and it is second in the state behind Harris County (Houston) that has 563 cases. As a hotspot for the epidemic in the state, Dallas’ proximity increases the risk of infection for lake area residents.
Kaufman County issued a shelter-in-place order March 25, and it is showing one case in Crandall, two in Forney and one in Terrell. Henderson County declared a local public disaster March 19, and there is one case in the eastern area of the county. Of Van Zandt County’s two cases, one patient has died.
In other neighboring counties frequently visited by lake area residents, there are 16 cases in Ellis, 3 in Navarro and 32 in Smith.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered all of the state’s residents on March 31, 2020, to stay at home until April 30 unless they are carrying out essential tasks in relation to their employment or seeking urgent supplies for their homes such as groceries. He also ordered schools to remain closed until May 4. Both dates could be extended if the deadly epidemic continues to spiral.
The governor also ordered that anyone arriving in Texas from Louisiana would be required to stay in quarantine for 14 days. New Orleans’ cases jumped to 4,000 in three weeks with 185 dead as of March 30 in the month after the Mardi Gras celebration in the city.
The same day of Abbott’s order, President Trump told Americans to expect a “very tough two weeks” in April as the epidemic escalates, and medical experts on his coronavirus task force warned that up to 240,000 people could die in the U.S. before the epidemic has run its course if social distancing is practiced nationwide. If Americans fail to heed the warning, up o 2 million could die, according to Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force.
Federal health officials expect the epidemic to peak within the next two weeks. There are now 188,713 cases in the U.S. with 3,896 dead and 7,082 recovered.
Reporters attending the president’s press briefing said he appeared “scared,” an emotion they noted Trump had never shown in the past.
New York and New Jersey are the epicenter of the crisis with Detroit and Los Angeles close behind, but the epidemic is expected to spread inland in coming weeks. Chicago is also quickly becoming a hotspot in the nation.
Many lake cities issued shelter-in-place orders prior to the governor’s order, and city and county officials have urged residents to take precautions to avoid exposure to the virus. The virus is airborne so physical contact with another person is not necessary for transmission, and the virus can live for up to two days on surfaces, posing a risk to anyone touching it after an infected person has.
The Centers for Disease Control notes that the wearing of a plain mask or a handmade one could reduce the risk of transmission because an individual would be unlikely to touch their nose or mouth after touching an infected surface before hand washing.
A mask might also prevent an infected person from unknowingly spreading the virus. Some people who are infected with the virus show no symptoms, but they can still infect others, according to medical researchers.
