The emergency dispatchers in El Paso, Texas, were assigning ambulances on one COVID-19 call after another.
“Respond to a sick patient, a COVID patient… Difficulty breathing, COVID… Confirming it is a COVID patient… Be advised positive COVID… COVID patient getting CPR… This is going to be a positive COVID situation… Patient was at local care physician when patient fainted, COVID symptoms…”
In among those calls, the operators updated the status of area hospitals in a county where hospitalizations had increased by more than 350 percent over the past month, to the point where critically ill patients were being airlifted to other cities in Texas.
“Overcrowded… no critical care beds… ED [emergency department] full.”
But that was not going to stop Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from seeking to prevent El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego from shutting down non-essential businesses in an effort to curb an explosive spike in COVID-19 infections.
“Samaniego has no authority to shut down business in El Paso County,” Paxton tweeted. “This is a direct violation of Gov. (Greg) Abbott’s executive order.”
Paxton added a threat.
“My office is quickly exploring all legal actions.”
The governor had been quick to send emergency medical assistance to El Paso. But he was letting stand an order that allowed everything from restaurants to tattoo parlors to remain open whether or not they were fueling the outbreak. Abbott was not anxious to countenance a shutdown so close to the election when President Trump was calling for opening up, no matter how many people might die.
And Paxton, who had succeeded Abbott as state attorney general, joined him in staying the Trumpian course by coming down on the El Paso judge for daring to sidestep the governor’s order. Paxton’s position was that the law is the law.
That stance goes beyond ironic straight into the ridiculous when you consider the Oct. 1 letter that seven of Paxton’s senior aides sent to federal law enforcement. The aides declared “a good faith belief” that Paxton “is violating federal and/or state law including prohibitions related to improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other potential criminal offenses.”
The aides were apparently disturbed by Paxton’s efforts to assist a wealthy contributor whose offices had been searched by the feds. Paxton had hired a special prosecutor for $300 an hour to investigate the federal investigators. His aides did not fail to notice that this was the very same fee that Paxton had declared “outrageous” when it was paid to the special prosecutors who were seeking to bring Paxton to trial on a five-year-old indictment for securities fraud.
Attorney General of Texas Ken Paxton and President Trump thjs summer.
Nicholas Kamm/AFP via GettyPaxton had initially managed to delay the trial by seeking a new venue. He more recently sought to halt the proceedings by filing objections to the same hourly rate that he himself set for a special prosecutor.
In response to the letter, Paxton fired three of the aides-turned-whistleblowers. The remaining four either quit or were forced out. The last of them departed this week, just before Paxton tweeted his threat to go after Judge Samaniego in the name of the law.
In the very next tweet, Paxton warned the public against fraud schemes not unlike the one for which he remains under indictment, however old.
“Scammers often use the same techniques again and again,” Paxton tweeted. “Learn the signs of a potential scam below so you can avoid becoming a victim.
Such hypocrisy is hardly surprising from a man so low as to be leading the Republican effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and thereby leave millions of Americans without health insurance in the middle of a pandemic. The case is due before the U.S. Supreme Court next month, and Paxton has a better chance of prevailing with the addition of the newly installed Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Meanwhile, the man who has proven so averse to the rule of law when it comes to himself that he has used every possible trick and maneuver to delay the fraud case against him for five years has proven lightning quick to commence legal action when it comes to an issue such as shutdowns. Never mind that he is jeopardizing lives during a public health emergency.
At the start of this week, El Paso was reporting more than 1,000 new COVID-19 infections, and those cases comprised more than 40 percent of the county’s hospitalizations. Samaniego sought to blunt the spike with a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.
“Our hospitals are now at a point where they are overwhelmed and exhausted, and I am left with no choice but to take this next step in hopes of seeing some stability in our community and most importantly to save lives,” Samaniego said.
On Thursday, the new-cases number was up to 1,268, and Samaniego decided he had to take further action. He secured various legal opinions affirming that he had the power to declare a two-week shutdown of non-essential businesses, effective midnight Friday.
“I feel we stand in strong, sound, legal ground to do what I need to do at this point in time,” Samaniego said when he announced the shutdown.
The mayor of the city of El Paso, Republican Dee Margo, questioned whether the shutdown was legal. The El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said his department would not enforce it. The county sheriff’s office said it needed to study the legal aspect of the matter. As the daily number of infections rose to 1,347 on Friday, Samaniego reminded them of what is at stake.
“El Paso County has never seen this level of infections throughout our community,” he told the press. “Our hospitals are at capacity, our medical professionals are overwhelmed, and if we don’t respond we will see unprecedented levels of death.”
Meanwhile, the hospitals and medical workers on the front lines against the virus had united much as they had in the wake of the 2019 mass shooting that left 23 dead.
“It’s all hands on deck, people joining together, all helping each other,” said Ryan Mielke, spokesman for University Medical Center El Paso.
Mielke said that COVID-19 cases at his hospital have risen from 30 a month ago to 208 on Thursday, with even more arriving on Friday. He said the city had expected a spike during the winter, but not this early or this intense.
“We had no idea,” he said. “It’s a storm.”
In another of the virus’ many ironies, he reported that the outbreak that prompted El Paso to respond as one had originated among families in the home. A majority of the infected people are aged 20 and 30. And they are spreading it to older, more vulnerable people.
The hospital now has multiple floors reserved for COVID-19 patients where it previously had just one. Some non-COVID adult patients are being placed in the children’s hospital.
On eight occasions as of Friday, the ICU has been so full that critically ill non-COVID patients or their families have been asked if they are willing to be transferred to another city to make room for those with the virus.
“I think only one or two have said no,” Mielke said. “We have a lot of good people in this county. A lot of good souls.”
And, as El Paso goes high, Paxton goes low even by his standards.
Meanwhile, the emergency dispatchers kept sending ambulances on call after call.
“Sixty-six year old male, COVID positive… Possible COVID patient with difficulty breathing… COVID viral pneumonia… Respond to COVID-19 patient.”
And with them came another update.
“Seriously overcrowded, no critical care beds.”
