Frio County announced the first COVID related death of a resident today. “Our sincerest and most heartfelt prayers and condolences got out to the family and friends who have lost a loved one to this terrible disease.”
The news of a Frio resident’s passing due to COVID-19 hits too close to home to maintain the strict information-sharing tone of this website. And it will be the start of more reports like this to come.
Despite the extraordinary number of COVID-19 cases in Frio, this is the first time we’ve had to report the loss of one our own. Some of our neighbors, such as Medina and Atascosa, weren’t so lucky even though they’ve had far fewer cases.
Maybe we took our luck for granted. Insulated in Frio County, we survived the outbreaks in New York, Houston, and San Antonio with hardly an impact at home. Even with the high number of resident cases, it seemed that everyone was on the path to recovery. That changes today.
Death may be a fact of life, but most of us try to delay that inevitability. When our health declines, we might change our diet or activity level. When we get in a car, we might put on a seatbelt. When we see a rattlesnake poised to strike, we either walk away or procure a new belt, but we definitely don’t stop to share respiratory droplets.
As we face the COVID-19 pandemic, Frio County has a special opportunity. We can help preserve not only our own health, but the health of our family, friends, neighbors, and community. It takes only simple acts of minor inconvenience: wear a face mask, practice physical distancing as much as possible, and wash your hands.
We can do this. It’s not too late. It’s best to start creating healthy habits now because COVID-19 is going to be in our lives for months to come. If you bothered to read this far, you probably already know this and have chosen to act accordingly. For you, the next step is to get your people in line. Not through shouting and judging on social media. But through direct appeal, a phone call or a properly distanced face-mask-to-face-mask conversation.
The community is the first line of defense.
Jose Asuncion
Frio County Commissioner, Pct. 4