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Posts published in “Day: March 11, 2021”

Galena Park’s Medical Clinic Administers COVID Vaccine

Mar 11, 2021
Certified Medical Assistant Claudia Franco at the Galena Park Medical Clinic is giving the life saving Moderna COVID 19 virus vaccine to patient Francisco Luevano. Observing, Galena Park Mayor Esmeralda Moya (red) and Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia (right) (Photo Allan Jamail)

By Allan Jamail

Galena Park, TX. – Friday, March 5, 2021, at the Galena Park Medical Clinic, Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia and Mayor Esmeralda Moya assisted the clinic in obtaining the Moderna COVID-19 for the citizens and the nearby areas.

Congresswoman Garcia said, “My objective is to bring the virus vaccine to the people. Many people are unable to travel long distances and wait in long lines for hours to be protected from the virus. With President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Economic Rescue Plan, we’ll now be able to make sizable gains in protecting citizens from the deadly virus.”

Octavio Plaza, the clinic’s office manager, said, “This is so true. Frequently we have some older citizens unable to get from their cars to get inside for their vaccination, and I and others have gone out into the parking lot to assist them in getting inside.”

The plan calls for $20 billion in a national vaccination program, including launching community vaccination centers around the country and mobile units in hard-to-reach areas. It’ll provide $50 billion in testing providing funds to purchase rapid tests expand lab capacity and help schools implement regular testing to support reopening. It will also fund the hiring of 100,000 public health workers, nearly tripling the community health workforce. And it will provide support to long-term care facilities experiencing outbreaks and to prisons for mitigation strategies.

School districts respond to Abbott’s Mandate… The Masks Stay on

Mar 11, 2021
DR. JOHN MOORE, Superintendent of Galena Park ISD, wears a mask at a recent news conference.

By Jada Mier

Governor Greg Abbott issued an Executive Order (GA-34) lifting the mask mandate in Texas and increasing capacity of all businesses and facilities in the state to 100 percent. Although this gives institutes the freedom to lift their own mandatory mask protocols, many feel that it is unwise to do so.

Galena Park ISD, Channelview ISD, Sheldon ISD and San Jacinto community college have all decided that in wake of this new mandate it would be safer for students and staff to carry on with their mask requirement.

Waste Pits update by Zoom meeting

Mar 11, 2021
MAP above of Southern Impoundment, shows excavation of toxic waste from 4’ deep (green) to 10’ deep (red).

Waste Pits remediation schedule extended, disposal and classification of waste questioned

By Gilbert Hoffman

The San Jacinto River Coalition, and THEA have learned that the time line for remediation and removal of the Waste Pits in the river will take considerably more time than originally thought, due to a number of factors.

Pre-Design Investigation, or PDI, discovered that the depth of the waste to be removed was much greater than the original 12 feet. In some places in the Northern Impoundment it was as deep as 25 feet. The significance of this meant that more material would have to be removed, and more water infiltrating from the river would have to be treated. The original time line had been to complete the project in 2 and one-half years, and now it looks like the schedule will be seven years. The Final Design plan called for one year of preparation to procure contractors and materials, 5 years to remove the waste material (the site would be divided into five zones, each separated from the others, and taking a year to remediate) and a year to mobilize.

However, in September THEA learned that the EPA had granted the PRP consultant’s request for additional time for engineering, due to the increased scope and depth of the waste.

Pct. 2 Medical SmartPod wins innovation award

Mar 11, 2021
Pct. 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia last October, dedicating first SmartPod in the Aldine area.

Harris County, TX — Commissioner Adrian Garcia and Precinct 2 received the prestigious American City & County 2020 Crown Communities Award. Garcia and Precinct 2 were chosen for their entry, which described the purchase, installation, and deployment of two SmartPod mobile health care units designed by Baylor. Precinct 2’s SmartPods are known as ACCESS2HEALTH.

Crown Communities Awards are based on uniqueness, short- and long-term value to the community and effective/innovative financing. The announcement cites ACCESS2HEALTH for its “Innovative COVID-19 Emergency Response.” Though the two ACCESS2HEALTH units were purchased prior to the pandemic, once installed, their availability for remote COVID-19 testing was of immediate value that continues today. Once COVID-19 is no longer the most pressing health issue of the times, ACCESS2HEALTH can be converted to provide clinical and behavioral health services, ultimately providing patients with a medical home.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo: “This is not the time to give up”

Mar 11, 2021
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo

This Wednesday, the state’s decision to open everything at 100% and eliminate the mask mandate comes into effect.

For the vast majority of the community who have been following public health recommendations from the beginning, the state’s ending COVID-19 precautions is a gut punch. As I said in a recent TIME Magazine Op-Ed:

“It is a heavy burden for a community to carry, to continue to sacrifice in spite of false hopes being offered at the highest levels of the state… I hope that people of this county won’t allow pandemic politics to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and that we won’t throw away a year of pain and sacrifice so that politicians can have their ‘mission accomplished’ moment.”

I have received a lot of questions about what that means for Texans, and what our community should do.

The bottom line is this: This is not the time to give up.

Our positivity rate is sky high and still rising.