This Week

Donley County has reported no new cases of confirmed COVID-19 since Monday, April 13, and 13 patients are still listed as recovered, County Judge John Howard, MD, said this morning.

The total number of confirmed local cases dropped by one today – from 23 down to 22 – after it was discovered that one of the positive cases reported by the Clarendon Family Medical Center is actually a resident of another county.  The updated data now shows that 20 local people have tested positive at the clinic out of 76 tests. Six of those tests are pending, and 50 have come back negative. Two other local patients were tested positive at facilities outside the county, bringing the total confirmed cases to 22.

Two residents remain hospitalized with COVID-19. One was reported on social media to be improving and was taken off the ventilator, and a family member told the Enterprise that the second patient is still on the ventilator but is alert and fever free today.

Donley County Judge John Howard, MD, reported today that eight of the 23 confirmed cases of COVID-19 are now listed as “recovered.”

No new cases of the virus have been confirmed since Monday with a total of 71 tests having been conducted on local patients by the Clarendon Family Medical Center. Only two of those tests are pending as of today, and 48 tests have been reported as negative. Two local people tested positive at facilities outside of the county.

(Editor’s Note: One case previously reported as having been confirmed at an out-of-county facility has been moved back into the “locally tested” category.)

Howard said two local residents who were confirmed to have COVID-19 are still hospitalized, and the remainder are recovering at home.

Judge Howard first reported three recovered patients last Friday, a fourth was listed as recovered on Monday, and two more were added Tuesday.

The judge also said the resourcefulness of his clinic’s staff has led to finding advanced testing facilities which has dramatically sped up the time in which test results are returned.

A lot of attention has been given to Donley County for the high number of confirmed COVID-19 cases being reported, but Howard does not think it means that the local community is “sicker” than other communities.

“We don’t have more disease,” Howard said. “We have more information.”

Howard said for a fair comparison of how many confirmed cases communities have on a per capita basis, you have to really be able to say how many people have been tested as a whole.

Wednesday, Howard said his clinic had tested about two percent of the local population, which was about four times the testing percentage of Texas as a whole.

Some communities are not testing at near Donley County’s level, but, Howard says, it doesn’t mean they don’t have the disease.

“I’ve said it before, I could lower the numbers in Donley County by just going back two weeks and not testing anyone,” he said.

(Editor’s Note: This article originally reported information from the county that 21 people were listed as ‘recovered’, but that number included all 71 patients who have been tested for COVID-19 (whether positive or negative) who are now symptom free. We apologize for the confusion.)

Sales tax revenues dipped slightly across the state when Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar delivered April local allocations last week.

Statewide, Hegar announced $701.8 million in local sales tax allocations for April, 0.5 percent less than in April 2019. These allocations are based on sales made in February by businesses that report tax monthly.

Clarendon’s allocation fell 1.42 percent to $25,334.25 for April, but the city was still up 3.31 percent for the calendar year-to-date at $128,869.11.

Hedley’s sales tax revenue was down for the month 1.52 percent at $509.78 but was still up 28.63 percent for the year at $3,133.50.

Howardwick’s revenue was up 33.36 percent for April at $1,396.97 and up 33.36 percent for the year-to-date at $5,701.12.

Hegar’s office warned that next month’s allocations, which will mostly reflect sales made in March, will begin to show the impact of pandemic-related business shutdowns. The agency, therefore, expects local allocations in May to be lower and said June allocations will likely deteriorate further.

The Clarendon City Council approved a new contract for law enforcement services during the city’s first virtual meeting last Thursday, April 9.

Amid concerns about the COVID-19 virus, city officials organized their regular meeting over Skype, with each alderman, the mayor, and other officials meeting over webcams and electronic devices from their homes or offices.

The meeting was available to the public through a live feed on The Clarendon Enterprise’s Facebook page.

After several months of negotiations, the city approved a three-year contract with the Donley County Sheriff’s Department, which takes effect when the current contract expires at the end of the fiscal year. The cost of the contract is fiscal year 2021 will be $161,182 and will increase 1.5 percent each year after that. The present contract ran for five years and included a 2.0 percent increase per year.

City officials also approved financial reports as part of the council’s consent agenda. It was noted that city finances are in good shape now but utility usage is dropping with the college and public school not operating as usual. Sales tax revenue is also expected to take a hit in the coming months.

The aldermen reviewed the city’s amended disaster declaration for the COVID-19 crisis and made no changes to that document.

The council took no action on appointing a person to fill a vacant spot on the economic development board, deferring to that board to make a recommendation.

In his report, City Administrator David Dockery said the city had negotiated a better cost for inspection services on the USDA water infrastructure improvement project.

Dockery also reported to the council that although construction on the aquatics center had been halted due to the COVID-19 situation, materials are still arriving for that job and are being kept secure. Dockery said work is continuing on a RAMP grant that would provide security cameras at the Smiley Johnson Municipal Airport.

In his mayor’s comments, Sandy Skelton thanked everyone involved in making the online meeting possible.

Clarendon CISD Trustees approved a new school grading policy when they met in regular session Monday night, April 13.

The school board met in person in the Administration & Technology Building but distanced themselves around the conference room instead of sitting together at the board table as usual.

The board considered and approved the grading policy as presented to govern how students will be scored while the school campuses are closed for the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Our teachers are being held accountable, so it’s important that students be held accountable also,” Superintendent Jerod Bellar told the Enterprise Tuesday. “We want to extend grace to students during this time, and we understand that students have varying levels of support and instructional resources at home.”

The policy sets out two separate sets of guidelines – one for the elementary and another for the junior high and high school – and also outlines how the school will calculate grades for the final six weeks of the school year.

“We want to not be punitive if kids are putting forth an effort,” Bellar said but noted that kids will be graded.

The superintendent said the school’s purpose in this time is still to educate kids.

You can read the policy here: COVID-19 CCISD Grading Policy

Bellar also reported to trustees on how the district is responding to the COVID-19 situation. Teachers are working from home where allowable but still coming in to prepare work packets. Custodial staff has been shifted to their summer working hours – four ten-hour days per week – and have begun working on some projects that were planned for the summer break. The superintendent also said that principals are keeping office hours mostly in the mornings.

Bellar said a roof repair project had been delayed because one of the contractor’s employees was being tested for the COVID-19 virus. That test was negative and the project will be getting back underway this week.

Trustees approved tax deeds for properties in Howardwick as presented.

The board also voted to accept the superintendent’s recommendation and offered contracts of employment to Evie Wright, high school math; and Pamela Hill, high school science.

Bellar also told the Enterprise Tuesday that appreciate all the work that the school district’s teachers and other employees are doing to keep educating kids and particularly the effort that the cafeteria workers are putting in to make sure kids are fed.

Another Donley County resident has been added to the list of ‘recovered’ patients Monday afternoon, and one more new case was confirmed.

Donley County Judge John Howard, MD, said his clinic has now run 69 tests on local residents. Five of those tests were still pending Monday afternoon, 20 were positive, and 44 were negative for the COVID-19 virus. An additional three people were tested positive at facilities outside of the county, bringing the total local confirmed cases to 23.

Most patients are still doing well at home; however, two local COVID patients were known to be hospitalized because of the virus.

Out of the 23 confirmed cases, four local people now have officially been listed as “recovered.”

Donley County Judge John Howard, MD, reported Friday evening that the one more case of COVID-19 was confirmed here, bringing the total number to 22, but the number of negative results also increased.

Out of 66 tests conducted at the Clarendon Family Medical Center, 37 have been negative and two were pending as of last night. Two of the confirmed cases were tested outside of Donley County.

Earlier yesterday, Howard also confirmed that three people have now recovered from COVID-19.

The judge also said the resourcefulness of his clinic’s staff has led to finding advanced testing facilities which has dramatically sped up the time in which test results are returned.

 

Donley County’s confirmed cases of COVID-19 rose to 21 today up from 14 yesterday, according to Judge John Howard, MD.

Sixty-two tests have now been conducted at the local clinic with 19 positives, 28 negatives, and 15 pending. An additional two people were tested positive outside of the county.

The good news today, Howard said, is that three local cases have been listed as recovered.

The City of Clarendon will be live-streaming its council meeting through the Enterprise Facebook page this Thursday, April 9, 2020. The agenda for that meeting can be found here and the council’s information packet can be found here.

Donley County residents are now under a “stay at home” order that took effect Monday night, and the number of active cases of COVID-19 rose to 13 this week.

Judge John Howard issued the order, which expires at the end of April, to mirror Gov. Greg Abbott’s order last week; but unlike the governor, the judge used plainer language in telling residents explicitly to “stay at home.”

“I think it’s pretty clear,” Howard said. “My order is the governor’s order. The whole purpose is to tell people to stay at home.”

On Wednesday, Howard’s office reported that the total number of local COVID-19 cases was now at 13, including 11 cases that tested positive from the Clarendon Family Medical Center and two cases that tested outside the county.

“It is definitely here in our community, and it is definitely time to do everything we can to keep it from spreading,” Howard said.

Howard said all patients of the local clinic are recovering under self-quarantine at home, but one local patient who had tested elsewhere was reported to have been hospitalized Sunday in Amarillo.

Howard said his medical office had tested 36 people for COVID with 22 negatives and nine pending cases Tuesday afternoon.

For residents who test outside the county, only confirmed cases are reported to the county judge by the state. Pending or negative tests involving local residents outside the county are unknown.

Clarendon Mayor Sandy Skelton issued a “stay at home” order for the city last Thursday, before Howard’s order was signed this week. ordered out of an abundance of caution due to the increased number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Donley County, which at that time was a total of three.

City officials instructed non-essential businesses to close their doors to the public.
Howard’s order went into effect at 11:59 p.m. on April 6 and will expire at 11:59 p.m. on April 30, 2020, if it is not extended.

The local order, passed under the authority of the county’s declared health emergency, requires every resident of Donley County to “stay at their home or residence and limit movements and personal interaction outside the home to only those necessary to obtain or provide essential services or to conduct essential activities” as explained by the governor’s order.

The order also requires residents who have been medically advised to isolate or quarantine to strictly observe that isolation or quarantine for the entire period until medically cleared, and advises residents to observe social distancing and other guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

“The observations and guidance I have attempted to provide over the past several weeks is more important now than ever,” Howard wrote in an article for this week’s Enterprise. “And it will be necessary for us all to be vigilant in the weeks to come. These restrictions are necessary to reduce the spread of a highly contagious and potentially deadly virus.”

Under Howard’s order and the governor’s order, failure to comply can result in a fine of up to $1,000 or a jail sentence of up to 180 days.