City approves mandatory COVID-19 lockdown

In an emergency-called City Council meeting held this evening, members of the council each expressed their concerns and opinions on how far they should go with some kind of mandatory city-wide shutdown.

Concilman George Altgelt spoke at length on recommending a strict, enforceable city shutdown to include schools for an indefinite period of time.

While others, including Councilman Vidal Rodriguez, Alberto Torres, Roberto Balli were worried about how this will affect the local economy and people's income.

At the end of the heated discussion a motion was made to impose a mandatory two week lockdown, or quarantine, that is enforceable that would only allow citizens to leave their homes for necessities like pharmacy, groceries and work.

However, when it comes to work, employers would have to make sure the workplace would have in place safety protocols like hand sanitizers, air quality, and the ability to check temperatures if their employees show signs of respiratory distress.

Some of the places that would need to shutdown include bars, maquinitas, sit-down areas of restaurants, and any entertainment industries.

The lockdown would be enforced by local law enforcement agencies.

Also the Health Department noted that to date, 20 people in Laredo have tested for the COVID-19 and of those 5 results have come back, 4 with negative results and one positive.

At the end, the motion for a lockdown passed but the details still need to be worked on.