NUECES COUNTY, Texas — After the holidays, Nueces County's COVID-19 numbers continued to increase days later.
"We're ready to find that little island somewhere where there's no virus that we can all go to but there isn't that place," said Annette Rodriguez, heath director for Nueces County and Corpus Christi Public Health District.
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Rodriguez said Nueces County and surrounding areas similar to Cameron and Brazoria counties are known as tourist locations.
"We were continuing to be low while they were already skyrocketing," said Rodriguez.
Cameron County is located near the Rio Grande Valley, close to popular spring break vacation spots like South Padre Island.
Meanwhile, Brazoria County is located near Galveston and Freeport. Both of those counties have populations higher than Nueces, but fewer COVID-19 cases.
"So while we seemed like we were better than some of these counties, we very quickly caught up and surpassed them," said Rodriguez.
Nueces County was in a better position before the summer of 2020 with fewer COVID cases, which led to more people choosing our beaches over others.
"Let's go to Corpus and enjoy their beautiful beaches, but they also enjoyed our restaurants, our gas stations, our malls, so while they were mingling, they actually were bringing the virus with them," said Rodriguez.
She said this was the culprit of why Nueces County reached higher total COVID cases than the comparable counties.
For the latest updates on coronavirus in the Coastal Bend, click here.
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