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No more sounds of buzzers, bells and balls of skee at Peter Piper Pizza. Instead, a man paces around with a noisy machine, spraying the room with disinfectant spray.
“It’s really sad,” said John Hlamquist, president of Pizza Properties, which owns the restaurant and other locations in El Paso. “You were coming here on a Saturday, this place would be full.”
Meanwhile, in a church across town, a trumpeter plays through a small hole in his surgical mask, while Bishop Mark Seitz walks down the aisle to hold mass in front of empty pews. This bishop records the service to be broadcast on Univision, so that his parishioners do not put themselves in danger.
Businesses fight shutdown as virus rages on
Places like tattoo parlors, hair salons, nail salons, gyms, and massage businesses are closed. Restaurants can only remain open for curbside orders and deliveries.
It was a frightening order for some small businesses still struggling to stay afloat amid a pandemic-stricken economy. And he has bigger companies, like Peter Piper Pizza, concerned about his employees.
“If we don’t have hours to give them because we can’t serve customers, they don’t get paid. And I think that’s what gets lost in all of this, ”Hlamquist said. “Our team members don’t have paychecks.”
Hlamquist’s company has teamed up with other businesses in a lawsuit to block the judge’s order while asking courts to determine whether the state or local government has the power to shut down businesses . The Texas attorney general’s office also joined the trial.
Abbott – who refused to give county judges the power to carry out closings – called Judge Samaniego’s order illegal, arguing that there are better strategies to mitigate the crisis.
As the fight continues in court, the virus rages across the region. The county reported 29,118 active cases on Wednesday, meaning nearly one in 30 people have recently tested positive.
Outside the medical examiner’s office, there are six mobile refrigerated units that can hold 176 bodies. More units should arrive.
The state flooded the region with resources, building a makeshift hospital at the convention center, as well as tents outside hospitals to treat patients with Covid-19.
The governor has also deployed nearly 1,400 people to the region, and the US Department of Defense has sent military medical personnel to support hospitals. Meanwhile, dozens of non-Covid-19 patients have been airlifted to other hospitals in Texas and New Mexico to create space.
Authorities attribute the sharp increase to a range of factors, from Covid-19 fatigue to the reopening of businesses to family-oriented culture, where large families living in the same households are common.
The growing number of cases is why El Paso County Commissioner David Stout is so supportive of the judge’s order to shut down non-essential businesses, saying officials must get the crisis under control before Federal and state resources may not be needed in other parts of the state.
“When things start to get worse everywhere else, people are going to have to go back to those other places,” Stout said. “And then what’s going to happen in El Paso? Not only do we not have enough medical professionals here, but we are going to start losing those who are here to help us.”
‘You can’t bring my son back’
For Texans who have lost a loved one to Covid-19 this year, the resurgence of the virus has sharpened the already painful grieving process.
Daniel, the son of Minerva and Francisco Morales, a nurse, died in August – just weeks before his 40th birthday. He left behind a wife and four children. On July 6, Daniel dropped off his children with his parents, said goodbye and went to work.
“It was the last time we saw him. It was the last time his children saw him,” his mother said. She added that Daniel first finished his shift and finished caring for his dialysis patients before going to the emergency room the same day.
Daniel Morales was in hospital for 29 days before succumbing to the virus, according to his family.
Her family gathered outside the hospital every night to pray, folding their hands into a heart shape and lifting them up in the air.
His parents keep a small shrine with his ashes in their house. Sitting next to the urn is a box of colored rocks. Her children were planning to welcome her home after hospital with a rock garden.
Minerva said she was devastated by the ongoing debate over how to handle the economy during the pandemic. For her, there is no doubt that all precautions must be taken, regardless of the economic cost.
“We have an empty chair. Now we have a void that will never be filled. And you know what? If I lose my house, if I lose my car, I’ll replace it,” she said. “But you can’t bring my son back. You can’t. And they’re arguing. And that makes me angry.
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