County approves DHS grant contract for $150K
The Hays County Commissioners Court approved a grant contract from the Department of State Health Services for $150,839 for activities related to COVID-19.
The grant will cover purchasing COVID-19 Molecular Diagnostic tests, personal protection equipment supplies and an AgriOzein Advance Ozonation/Hydroxyl machine which will sanitize and purify air.
County spending for PPE supplies will be increased by $5,839 and test kits by $91,000.
The approval came after a lengthy discussion addressing a national testing shortage and what to do about it — whether to purchase tests, what kinds of tests, and from what vendor. Texas has allegedly received 10,000 tests, of which Hays County got 10.
First responders and medical professionals who have needed testing have been able to get testing, said County Judge Ruben Becerra.
Becerra invited representatives from a telehealth app to answer questions related to the possibility of utilizing their services for serology testing in their drive through clinics. Two weeks ago it was stated that Becerra secured 2,000 tests from MDBox.com; they have since been placed on hold until the commissioners can come to an agreement about whether to purchase more tests and from what vendor.
Molecular testing is the testing that has been broadly used to determine whether someone who is sick has the COVID-19 virus, and has a 30% false negative rate. Serology testing measures antibodies to determine whether someone has had COVID-19 and recovered from it.
The FDA has cautioned that serology tests “should not be used as the sole basis to diagnose or exclude (coronavirus) infection or to inform infection status.”
County Epidemiologist Eric Schneider clarified that serology testing will help us understand how many people have been affected in the county but only molecular tests will add to the COVID-19 case counts.
Becerra would like to expand access, however, to testing broadly and conduct mass serology testing to understand how deeply the virus has made its way through the community and then put together a plan for getting the county back to work based on a statistical analysis.
Rachel Ingle, San Marcos emergency management coordinator, urged the county to purchase personal protective equipment before purchasing more tests based on what first responders and medical professionals have expressed they need. She explained that 500 of the 600 tests conducted have come back negative and warned that expanding testing rapidly would overwhelm the labs and prevent the people who need to be tested from getting fast results.
In other business, the commissioners authorized the judge to execute a contract with Brizo Construction, LLC for nonrental housing projects under the CDBG-DR Housing Program.
The court also voted to accept several donations: 80 Whataburger gift cards, and 5 gallons and 455 personal-size hand sanitizers for the Sheriff’s Office; and 500 gallons of bleach.
The Hays County Jail report spent zero dollars outsourcing women for the week of April 5 through April 11.