Watch the incoming storm threat
As Turner continues to grapple with the city’s tangle with COVID-19, which is approaching 40,000 cases and 400 deaths, Turner recognized a possible flood disaster in the form of an incoming storm in the Gulf of Mexico, which could touch land as Tropical Storm Hanna.
LOOK: Houston chief of emergency management talks about Gulf storm threat
The city’s chief emergency management officer, who appeared during Turner’s regularly scheduled COVID-19 briefing on Wednesday, said his office expects one to three inches of rain inland, with higher amounts on the coast, all based in the estimates of the National Meteorological Service. He added that the region could face another threat from tropical storm Gonzalo next week.
SEE MORE: Preparing for severe weather during the COVID-19 pandemic
Fight against the Houston coronavirus
Beyond the weather, Turner used the city’s information to remember the four things its residents should do to reduce the Houston virus positivity rate to 5% or less, according to Dr. David Persse of Houston Public Health:
- Close the economy, which Persse said had some success earlier in the outbreak
- Creating a vaccinewhich he said is currently a bit far from happening
- Group immunitywhich Persse also said was far from happening
- With a mask
The guidelines came just hours before Texas announced 197 new coronavirus deaths, the most it has reported in a day so far in the course of the pandemic.
Turner also announced the names of city workers who died from the virus, calling them “heroes.”
346 Houston residents have lost their lives to # COVID19. And City of Houston employees are also being affected by the virus.
This week, we lost three more municipal employees. The Solid Waste Department lost a deputy assistant director.
Two municipal employees assigned to HPD also died.
– Houston Mayor’s Office (@houmayor) July 22, 2020
Latonya Lewis, 46, an employee of the Fleet Unit, died Monday.
Nicole Rodríguez, 38, who worked in the Region 1 Patrol Command Office died earlier this month.
– Houston Mayor’s Office (@houmayor) July 22, 2020
All City of Houston employees who will have died from # COVID19 are heroes. We send our prayers and condolences to their families. We should honor them by remembering that the virus is real.
– Houston Mayor’s Office (@houmayor) July 22, 2020
SEE MORE: Families of City Workers Died by Warning of Problem COVID-19
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