Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales called into a Port Aransas City Council meeting she was watching on Facebook Live to say: stop, please wait, don’t do anything yet. The council was in the middle of an emergency meeting to discuss shutting down short-term rentals, including hotels; keeping tourists out of the city; and closing beaches to the public.
After about an hour of sometimes contentious, around-about discussion, City Manager Dave Parsons came to the podium after a brief absence to report on his call with Canales.
“Something is coming imminently from the county,” Parsons said. “I would recommend we hold off and wait and see what comes out of the county tomorrow. It will pertain to what we are discussing.”
According to Parsons, Judge Canales is working with the county’s lawyers and will soon reach out to the mayors in Nueces County to bring them on board before announcing it to the public.
“They are discussing a form of shelter in place,” Parsons said. “We need to see what that looks like. Her wish is that this be a unified attack.”
Port Aransas Mayor Charles Bujan agreed.
“That’s our wish, too,” he said. “Let’s do it. We may have another emergency meeting tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, the city of Austin and Travis County have issued a shelter-in-place order that will go into effect Tuesday, March 24. The order is similar to one already in place in Dallas County and the city of Dallas, banning all public and private gatherings outside of a home.
The shelter-in-place in Austin also bans non-essential travel, the closure of non-essential businesses with the exception of grocery stores, gas stations, restaurant carry-out orders and deliveries, pharmacies, medical facilities, big-box stores, hardware stores, and laundry services.
People can leave home to walk pets or exercise but must keep 6 feet apart.