Victoria Cantu 
EDINBURG – “If you’re a bar if you’re a hair salon if you are a nail salon, those places are nonessential those establishments they are automatically not open for business,” said Cantu.
The coronavirus is on the rise in the Rio Grande Valley targeting the City of Edinburg after a first confirmed case of COVID-19 happened on March 21st. Health officials were immediately alerted to the positive test and notified Mayor Richard Molina. Anticipating that someone would contract the coronavirus, Edinburg had been working on implementing a stay-at-home work-safe plan that sets boundaries for deciding whether businesses are essential or nonessential.
“So we are implementing a-stay-home work safe plan. Number one you’re going to stay home and there’s a lot of educators right now and students their option is to stay home. You also have people who work at the essential service business which are people who work at HEB people who work at Walmart people that are police officers, firemen, obviously their not going to be able to work from home. So, most people are going to try to have to get to their place of employment, so we ask if those people work safely. What were implementing today is our compliance team we get an essential service list from the governor of the state of Texas so he basically says, “you’re essential, you’re non-essential” so we’re basically going off of the state guidelines,” said Cantu.
The city is now deciding what essential services are implied for the stay-at-home work-safe plan and what local businesses are able to stay open.
“We are allowing people get to and from these essential services places if they are going to stay open and these are the essential services they have to submit this application to the city of Edinburg and that basically stays home-work safe so were going to send our team in the police, fire, and inspectors and one of the things we are looking at is if that they practice safe hygiene, that they maintain a physical of distance six feet or more and that they avoid groups of spaces to ten people or less,” said Cantu.
The stay-at-home work-safe plan is now in effect and has only permitted business owners and employees to be able to go to work and offer curbside pick-up as a precautionary option.
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