FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas — On Tuesday, Fort Bend County’s Commissioners Court signed off on a COVID-19 Strike Team that will be on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with any other crisis that might arise in the future.
It formed out of Gov. Greg Abbott’s mandate that all nursing home residents and staff need to be tested for COVID-19.
Nursing homes have been some of the hardest-hit places in Texas. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, there have been 3,144 reported cases in nursing homes statewide and 515 deaths. That’s more than a 16% mortality rate.
In the Greater Houston region, there have been 727 reported nursing home cases and 115 deaths.
These numbers are why last week Abbott mandated that all nursing home residents and employees be tested.
Fort Bend County Judge KP George says they were given until the end of the month to test everyone with the logistics left up to local officials.
“It is absolutely a big task,” George said. “This is not something we can just walk in and test everybody in like two hours and go home. It is a process. It will take hundreds of tests a day.”
The mandate is one of the reasons why George signed off on the COVID-19 Strike Team. The team will be made up of members from fire departments across the county and EMS. The members will be trained and over the next week will ensure that everyone in the 15 Fort Bend nursing homes is tested.
George says tests and equipment will be funded by the Texas Department of Emergency Management – which will oversee the team along with EMS and Health and Human Services.
Although the Strike Team’s first task will be fulfilling Abbott’s mandate, George believes the team will be essential in helping with other needs in the future. Anything from implementing testing sites if there is a second wave of COVID-19 cases to helping with hurricane relief.
“We wanted to make sure, in case there’s something else we need to do in the future, it’s more like creating an infrastructure, a future infrastructure,” George said.
George is expected to release more details about the COVID-19 Strike Team during a press conference Wednesday morning.
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