Texas town shuts down after seeing spike in COVID cases
About half of Iraan, Texas, has been infected with COVID-19
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An entire town in Texas was forced to shut down after half of the residents tested positive for COVID-19.
Iraan, the west Texas town of 1,200, has had a 42% positivity rate with 50 people being infected within a two-week span in August, according to Iraan General Hospital CEO Jason Rybolt, CNN reported.
Rybolt also cited a low number of ICU beds available in Texas, saying that one patient even had to be airlifted to an out-of-state hospital to receive care.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Satellite image of Iraan, Texas, which shut down due to half its citizens becoming infected with COVID-19. (Google Earth)
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Texas has experienced a scarcity of ICU beds due to lack of mask-wearing, low vaccination rates, and the highly contagious delta strain of COVID-19.
To save space for patients with COVID-19, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott requested that hospitals postpone elected surgeries.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Iraan-Sheffield Independent School District even had to shut down schools after five days of classes because about a quarter of the school’s staff tested positive for coronavirus in addition to 16% of students either being infected or exposed to the virus.
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Abbot previously issued an executive order banning city and county mask mandates, which also includes schools, as well as vaccine mandates, Fox 7 reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The town is set to reopen on Aug. 30, USA Today reported.