Small town forced to close down over Covid outbreak

‘We had had Covid before but never to this magnitude,’ resident says

A small town in western Texas has essentially shut down after an outbreak of Covid-19 that led to the school and many local businesses closing their doors.

During two weeks in August, 119 residents of the small oil town of Iraan were tested for Covid-19 and 50 tested positive, meaning that the town has an estimated positivity rate of 42 per cent. The town has a population of 1,200 residents.

The town’s name is pronounced “Ira-Ann” and was named after Ira and Ann Yates – the owners of the ranch below which oil was found.

Vicky Zapata recently went live on Facebook from the front lawn of her friend’s house, bursting into tears and saying: “We ask you God, that you heal our town, Father, from this disease.”

More than a dozen fellow residents followed the prayer from their parked cars. Ms Zapata’s friend Carla Balderas was quarantined in her home with her nine-year-old son as her husband fought the virus in a local hospital. He passed away after being airlifted to another hospital that offered ICU care.

“We had had Covid before but never to this magnitude,” Ms Zapata told CNN.

Iraan General Hospital CEO Jason Rybolt said he’s “very concerned for the community” and that he’s “trying to make sure that they have the healthcare that they need”.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been fighting mask mandates even as he himself recently became infected with Covid-19.

The seven-day average of new daily cases in Texas was more than 17,154 as of 23 August, compared to 1,333 on 6 July.

Recent state data shows that there are 372 ICU beds available in Texas – a state of more than 29 million people. The closest ICU care facilities to Iraan are Midland-Odessa and San Angelo, both of which are around 100 miles away.

“It could be 12 hours. It could be 36 hours, you just never know how long it’s going to take,” Mr Rybolt said of how long it could take for an ICU bed in the area to become free.

After being admitted to the local hospital on a Thursday, Mr Balderas was airlifted to an ICU facility on Saturday.

The town’s school district closed down last week after only five days of classes when as many as 25 per cent of the staff and 16 per cent of the students became infected or were exposed to the virus.

“In the last week, we’ve seen more Covid cases for staff and students than we did the entire year, last year, during school,” Iraan-Sheffield Independent School District Superintendent Tracy Canter told CNN.

In a letter to parents, she wrote: “Please ensure that students are truly taking this opportunity to quarantine. This means that students and staff will quarantine only with immediate family. They should not be out and about in the community or hanging out with friends. The only way that this will work is if everyone does their part.”

Mayor Darren Brown said the town’s vaccination rates were not available, but that the situation was “very serious”.

As of 22 August, just over 46 per cent of Texans had been fully vaccinated, compared to 52 per cent of the US as a whole.