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County Record TheRecordLive.com

Vol. 60 No. 47

The Community Newspaper of Orange, Texas

Week of Wednesday, April 29, 2020

OC Covid testing numbers get boost

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This week, for the first time since government testing began March 29, people without symptoms of the virus (fever, dry cough, shortness of breath, chills, muscle pain, headache) are eligible for testing.

“Even at the normal sites, you don’t have to be symptomatic anymore,” Orange County Judge John Gothia said. “The Texas military is doing [testing] one day in each county.”

Most public health officials giving interviews the past month have agreed that the country needs much more testing, because there are so many unknowns about the bug that first appeared in China in late 2019.

According to Tuesday’s statistics posted by the Orange County Emergency Management Facebook home page, only 718 county residents have been tested so far, which is significantly less than 1 percent of the estimated 83,396 residents.

With 70 confirmed cases,

OC COVID TESTING Page 3A

Medical technicians from the Texas Military Mobile Health unit log test swabs taken from those receiving COVID-19 testing at a drive-through site at the Orange County Convention and Expo Center Tuesday. Photographers were not allowed on site or even take photos of the cars as county officials cited the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that safeguards patients’ medical information. RECORD PHOTO: Dave Rogers

Tracking the spread of the coronavirus across the globe is a numbers game and Orange County beefed up its numbers Tuesday.

Nearly 100 residents took part in drive-through testing for the Covid-19 virus during a one-day program run by the Texas Military Mobile Health unit at the Orange County Convention and Expo Center Tuesday.

It was the first public testing opportunity in the county for residents, who previously had to go to private doctors or clinics or drivethrough testing sites set up by the Southeast Texas Regional Emergency Operations in Beaumont and Sils

DAVE ROGERS For The Record

County considers economy, Coastal Spine agreement

DAVE ROGERS For The Record

On the rainiest day in a short while, The Orange County Commissioners almost signed up Tuesday to get the latest version of the 26-mile “Ike Dike” for free.

They opened talks on how the county can reach out to help small business owners recover from the economic shutdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

And they saluted TAN Healthcare, the Triangle Area Network, as “one of the community’s biggest assets and best kept secrets.”

Founded as the Triangle AIDS Network in 1987 in response to the health crisis of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, TAN is a federally qualified health center that has transformed into a fullservice clinic providing comprehensive and primary care services for all individual in Southeast Texas, regardless of their ability to pay.

TAN Healthcare is located at 3737 N. 16th St. and was represented at Tuesday’s meeting by Dena Gray Hughes, CEO; Lester Daigle, chairman of the board; and Misty Thibodeaux, director of quality.

Hughes said TAN had recently received $583,000 in additional funding to spend on fighting the coronavirus and maintaining its operations for the remainder of the year.

“Seventy percent of our patients are uninsured, and we have had a reduction in the number of patients coming in, people who need routine and chronic care medicine,” Hughes said. “But even though they may not come in, we now have telemedicine, and my staff has done an amazing job of making services available.”

TAN charges patients based on their ability to pay, with copays normally around $10 or $15. But they can go up to $25, Hughes said, “if you’re a real financial baller.”

Three different tests for the coronavirus are available at TAN.

“The nose swab, or the antibody test, which just takes 15 minutes,” Hughes said, “or the blood draw, which, like the swab, takes three to five days to get a result.”

The business is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Mondays and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. It has a new website at tanhealthcare.org .

“It’s one of the county’s biggest assets and also one of its best secrets,” Commissioner Johnny Trahan said.

The healthcare provider’s

Gothia

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The Saturday morning sun greets four globe-trotting tankers berthed at the Port of Orange’s Alabama Street Terminal for some repair work during the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. PHOTO: Courtesy Port of Orange

Virus brings Orange port a silver lining

Don’t say the coronavirus is hurting everybody’s bottom line.

The worldwide economic upheaval has also taken a big bite out of shipping. That, in turn, has brought four globe-trotting cargo ships to the Port of Orange docks.

DAVE ROGERS For The Record

The vessels, all from the same fleet, are expected to stay for at least a month and pay the port more than $10,000 per day, according to Keith Wallace, the longest tenured port commissioner.

Based on a two-year-old estimate by a former port director, a month’s stay by the ships could generate an amount of cash equal to two or three months of normal income for the port.

“We have ships periodically, but to have four large ships like this at dock and our slip be totally full is unusual,” said Lorrie Taylor, the current port director.

“Besides the ships, we have one articulated barge and two regular barges in the slip. We are full. And it’s been a long time since we’ve been that full.”

Because the Sabine River is too shallow and narrow near the downtown port for the supersize ships that bring millions of dollars of business to Beaumont and Port Arthur, the Port of Orange has been labeled “a barge port rather than a shipping port.”

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City employees set to re-open Friday

All City of Orange employees will be returning to work Thursday in preparation for Friday’s Phase I re-opening of the local economy per the guidelines of Gov. Greg Abbott.

All Southeast Texas counties – including Orange – have ceased issuing local emergency orders, putting their local spin on guidelines issued by Abbott and President Donald Trump. They are all in following Abbott’s direction.

Monday, the governor announced, “to get Texas back to work,” he was letting the state Stay-at-Home order expire Thursday night and allowing “as many businesses as possible to reopen in as

DAVE ROGERS For The Record

many ways that are safe.”

He’s ordered the reopening of restaurants, retail businesses, shopping malls and theaters Friday to 25 percent of their capacity. All museums and libraries can reopen, but hands-on activities must remain closed until at least May 18, he said.

Most City of Orange employees have worked through the Stay-at-Home but many have worked split shifts or not at all, depending on their specialties.

“I have notified all department heads to tell their employees to come back to work Thursday,” Mike Kunst, Orange city manager, said at Tuesday night’s city council meeting, held over the GoToMeeting conference call app to maintain the social distancing guidelines which are staying in effect.

“We want everyone to come back one day early in preparation to be ready for citizens to get out and about on May 1 [Friday].

“Although they’re lifting Stay-at-Home and there’s a limited opening at 25 percent of capacity, we need to share that we still want you to practice social distancing, stay six feet apart, wash your hands, and, if you’re comfortable wearing a mask, wear a mask.”

Jon Watson, certified public accountant with BrooksWatson & Co., the city’s auditor, presented the Comprehensive Annual Fitness Report for the Fiscal Year 2019, which ended Sept. 30, 2019.

It earned a “Unmodified opinion,” which he said was the highest level of assurance given by CPAs.

“The city has done a great job,” he said.

He said the city had received $26.8 million in revenues in 2019 and spent $23.9 million, with the difference being largely due to the sale of bonds and a Hurricane Harvey grant from the General Land Office.

He said the city had $11.3 million in unassigned General Fund balance, which equates to a six-month operating reserve, if needed.

He noted that the city’s TRMS employees’ pension fund was 87% funded, far better than the national pension fund average of 72%. Also noted was that the Firefighters’ pension fund was only 35% funded, a problem

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