COVID-19

Fort Belknap will be temporarily closing its doors following a 5-0 vote at the Commissioners Court meeting on Monday. The decision comes after declarations made by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Young County Judge John Bullock.

Gov. Abbott, last week declared, “every person in Texas shall avoid social gatherings and groups more than 10.” The declaration coincides with the recommendations presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and echoed by President Donald Trump.

The race is still on. Even with the cancellation of most events in Graham and Young County, the Spivey Hill Challenge will be doing an alternative race called a virtual race which can be done anytime before April 30.

Spivey Hill Challenge, a local fundraiser, fun run and race, was scheduled to occur on April 4 at Firemen’s Park, but because of new restrictions to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus the event has been moved to a virtual run.

With COVID-19 threat to continuing spread throughout the world, country, state and locally one Graham company is in the beginning stages of producing and selling medical pods and testing pods.

In an effort to help those affected by COVID-19 (novel coronavirus), the Graham Community Food Pantry and Crisis Center will be collecting canned goods, dry goods, baby products and paper items through the month of March.

Over the past week, rumors have been circulating on social media about obtaining free baby formula, by calling the phone number on the back of the can of formula.

The claim does not specify if the formula is supposed to be free or not. The Graham Leader contacted five formula companies to inquire about the rumor, and this is what was discovered.

Enfamil

With the COVID-19 pandemic underway, Young County will be enacting measure to increase the penalty for certain crimes committed within the governor’s disaster declaration.

According to a press release from the office of Young County District Attorney Dee Peavy, the disaster declaration enacted by Governor Greg Abbott on March 13 allows for the utilization of Texas Penal Code 12.50, which increases the punishment range for offense committed during the duration of the declaration.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) took action, along with Dr. John Hellerstedt, Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, and declared a Public Health Disaster in the state of Texas. The declaration gives state and local officials more tools to more effectively respond to the spread of COVID-19 across the state.

“(Dr. Hellerstedt) insists that Texas needs a unified, robust response to contain COVID-19,” Abbott said. “To achieve that goal, Dr. Hellerstedt, earlier today, declared a Public Health Disaster in the state of Texas.”

The Young County Commissioner’s Court met in an emergency meeting at the Young County Courthouse on Monday afternoon and voted to approve Dr. Pat Martin as the Local Health Authority for Young County.

Dr. Martin replaced Dr. Purty, of Olney, who left the position last summer after his two-year appointment expired. Young County Judge John Bullock also expressed his interest in declaring a declaration of disaster in Young County.

Editor’s note: If your school, entity or event has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and is not listed below please send the information by email to editor@grahamleader.com, call the office at 940-549-7800 or by Facebook comment or message. This article will continued to be updated as information is provided.

In an effort to support the health and safety of students and communities, the UIL announced Friday it is suspending all UIL interscholastic competition from March 16 until March 29 due to the outbreak of COVID-19 (coronavirus).