Rep. Chip Roy posted coronavirus data from Texas to Twitter, suggesting that “the border is driving the problem” when it comes to increased hospitalizations and deaths in the state.
“Important data here,” the Texas Republican tweeted this week. “The border is driving the problem, and anecdotally the hospitals are overwhelmed along the border.”
Important data here. The border is driving the problem, and anecdotally the hospitals are overwhelmed along the border. https://t.co/mcsqAfVmjl
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) July 8, 2020
“An uptick in deaths in non-border with addition of 7/7 but still well within norms since May; still nearly 3x below per-capita deaths at border,” the tweet Roy cited read. “Cases possibly stabilizing — will monitor through the week.”
Texas has been widely criticized by media personalities and politicians for an uptick in positive cases following the state’s decision to reopen earlier than some felt was safe.
Senior editor at the Conservative Review Daniel Horowitz agreed with Roy’s assessment in a piece titled “The worst Texas coronavirus increase? On the BORDER,” which argues that the connection between migration at the border and the virus uptick is “irrefutable.”
“Hidalgo County, Texas, which contains the main international border crossing in the Rio Grande Valley, experienced a 641% increase in cases per thousand residents from June 1 to July 2,” Horowitz wrote. “Harris County (Houston), by comparison, experienced just a 167% increase, which is more in line with the rate of increase in testing.”
Further evidence of Cross Border migration as an increasing factor in #TexasCovid19
* 31.39% of Border Counties deaths came in last 10 days. Texas as a whole – 16.00% last 10
* 19.71% of all Texas Deaths in last 10 days reported in border counties. 3/1 thru 6/23? 10.04% https://t.co/LPu5QRew5G pic.twitter.com/SVrVvjRDEH
— Alex Rodriguez (@therealarod1984) July 4, 2020
CNN reported in late June that an influx of people were crossing the border from Mexico into the United States to receive coronavirus care.
“They’ll literally come to the border and call an ambulance,” one health official said.
Horowitz wrote that it “makes sense that these cases in the border counties are more serious than elsewhere” because San Diego officials were sounding the alarm in late April that “serious cases were coming over the border, not the mild ones we are seeing spread throughout most of the country now.”
“So, what we’re seeing now is an uptick in the number of U.S. citizens that are coming across the border, and when they arrive here, they’ve been in pretty bad shape. Critical cases,” San Diego County District 3 Supervisor Kristin Gaspar said on April 29.
