As the state of Texas continues to move toward reopening and lifting restrictions on businesses, Presidio County officials on Saturday confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the county.
The patient is a woman in her 40s and health authorities say the case is travel related. The woman is currently self-isolating and the Texas Department of State Health Services says it's helping the county identify "any close contacts so they can be isolated and monitored for symptoms."
The resident was tested for the coronavirus soon after she returned to Presidio County from traveling outside of the region. She was screened locally through one of the Preventative Care Health Services clinics, according to Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara.
This is the first case of COVID-19 in the Big Bend region since a resident in south Brewster County tested positive for the disease in late April. That person has since recovered, according to health officials.
While testing for the coronavirus has been severely limited in the region, the Texas National Guard has conducted several pop-up coronavirus screening sites in the last three weeks. The results from those tests have largely returned negative, with a small number of results still pending.
Between the number of COVID-19 tests issued by the state and the local hospital and area clinics, roughly 380 Big Bend residents have been screened for the disease—nearly 2% of the tri-county population.
