Officials urge public to curb virus spread
EL CENTRO – Six COVID-positive patients died Monday in Imperial County.
That was according to El Centro Regional Medical Center CEO Dr. Adolphe Edward, who said four of those patients were at ECRMC. He said the numbers reflect a dangerous surge in the disease’s prevalence over the past several weeks.
“Our numbers are escalating, and escalating very fast,” he said.
Edward and Imperial County Board of Supervisors Chairman Luis Plancarte appeared together Tuesday afternoon in a Facebook Live pre
sentation to urge county residents to follow local health orders and help slow down transmission of the disease.
ECRMC’s inpatient count stood at 120 as of Tuesday, and 56 of those patients had been admitted for COVID.
“And that’s just the Halloween effect,” Edward said. He said he expects the number of COVID-positive patients to grow even further as a result of Thanksgiving get-togethers.
“The way the trajectory of the numbers is going, we are not going to be able to sustain that increase,” he said.
“We understand these are very difficult times
for everybody, especially with a season when we are used to gathering and coming together as families,” Plancarte said.
Nevertheless, because the virus depends on human contact for transmission, the only way for the chain to be broken is for people to follow rules governing non-essential travel, to practice proper hygiene and sanitation, and to wear their masks.
That last one, in particular, has been a frequent sticking point for Edward. He has commented on a number of occasions about ineffective ways that he’s seen people wearing masks. One of those dubious methods is when they wear it below
the nose.
“That doesn’t actually help anybody,” he said.
In response to a viewer’s question, Plancarte said it’s possible the county could enact further restrictions if the number of infections continues to rise.
There were 1,087 active COVID cases in Imperial County as of Tuesday evening. There have been 16,364 cases in all, with 14,921 recoveries and 356 deaths since March.
“This is a vicious virus,” Edward said. “This is not the flu virus. Believe us when we tell you that treating COVID patients is a very hard thing (because of the suffering patients go through).”