Vela: I see no alternative to another stay-at-home order

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas - U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela sees no alternative to shutting down the economy again in order to defeat the surge in coronavirus cases in the Rio Grande Valley.Vela made clear his views on a telephone town hall he put together with a stellar group of medical professionals. The event was co-hosted by the Rio Grande Valley Partnership and South Padre Island Chamber of Commerce.Discussing the possibility of another stay-at-home order, Vela said: “That is the only way we are going to stop this disease.”Vela said he came to this view having listened to the medical experts.“If you listen to all the professionals that are on this phone call, that (a new stay-at-home order) has to be the next step,” Vela said. “It is painful but, if we can do that for two to three to four weeks we will be in a much better place a month from now and then we can get our economy growing again.”The medical experts on the webinar were: Ron Klain, a former chief of staff to Vice Presidents Gore and Biden and President Obama’s Ebola czar, Israel Rocha, CEO of Elmhurst and Queens hospitals in New York, Dr. Art Garza, CEO of Valley Regional Medical Center in Harlingen, Dr. Joseph McCormick, founder of the UTHealth School of Public Health in Brownsville, and Dr. Joseph Masci, chairman of the Department of Global Health at Elmhurst Hospital Center in New York.Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.