The Texas Education Agency has released further guidance and guidelines regarding the 2020-2021 school year. The guidelines prioritize health and safety while ensuring that students receive quality instruction, whether parents choose on-campus or in a remote learning environment.
From June 29 through July 6, Young County had 45 positive COVID-19 tests confirmed, with 32 of them believed to be county residents.
As of Monday, July 6, Young County has tested 1,813 people with 98 confirmed positive results, according to Graham Regional Medical Center. Forty seven of those positive cases are still reported to be active, one of them hospitalized.
The city of Graham and the Graham Chamber of Commerce announced Thursday night that they decided to cancel or postpone all events that were to be held on the square for the Fourth of July after a spike in COVID-19 cases and an Executive Order from Gov. Greg Abbott mandating masks. The fireworks display continued as scheduled at Young County Arena.
The family of Wyatt Dale will still be able to bring awareness for water safety with their annual Remembering Wyatt Dale Water Safety event as they have decided to move to a drive-thru event for 2020.
The first week of early voting has concluded, and though voter turnout has been low, it has given the elections administrator and poll workers a glimpse at the future during COVID-19.
Young County Elections Administrator, Lauren Sullivan, said Wednesday morning that 48 voters have visited the polls during early voting. This is a runoff election with a United States Senator and Railroad Commissioner appearing on the Democratic ballot, while a 2nd Court of Appeals District, Place 7 Justice appears on the Republican ballot.
The Young County Amateur Radio Club set up on the downtown square last Saturday as an exercise for communications in the event of an emergency outage.
The group, which totals 15-20 members, was on the square with the command and communication trailer used by the city of Graham which was loaned to them and set up with a large antenna. The group set up their operations with a solar-powered generator to show the communication services could run off the grid if needed.
A local fugitive is behind bars in Young County as Jeremy Gilmore was arrested in Nevada on May 21. He was held on warrants for intoxicated manslaughter with a vehicle and intoxicated assault with a vehicle.
Editor’s Note: This story is current as of Tuesday afternoon, but with the ever-changing nature of cancellations due to COVID-19, the events may be subject to change. Check The Graham Leader social media for up to date event news.
Three of the four annual Independence Day events will be ongoing in Graham despite a rise in COVID-19 cases in Young County. The Kiwanis Club of Graham Pancake Breakfast was the sole event which was postponed to the Fall.
One day after halting plans to continue the reopening of the Texas economy, Gov. Greg Abbott announced the closure of all bars as well as other measures to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Abbott released an executive order, GA-28, Friday morning, which ordered all bars to close by noon on Friday, June 26. Bars may still operate under a take out or delivery service, including alcohol to-go sales per Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
In addition to bars, all restaurants went go back to operating at 50% capacity on June 29.
Three city leaders met last Friday to continue updating the community on the developments of COVID-19 and to address local questions. The leaders spoke to the community on the continued efforts which they said should be made to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and those being made at the state level.
