The chief physician of Hidalgo County, Texas, issued an order mandating a 14-day quarantine for residents who test positive for the new coronavirus or who have household members with a positive COVID-19 test, and failure to comply could open up residents to criminal prosecution.
The health authority order, issued July 17, states that if a resident or member of their household tests positive for COVID-19, they must quarantine for 14 days, and they are not allowed to have any visitors at their place of residence.
In addition, they must be available for diagnostic testing or provide blood samples to federal and state government representatives if asked to do so. They must also start making a list of people they have come into contact with starting two days before symptoms began or two days before they received a positive test result and call those people they came into contact with to notify them of the test results.
Those who do comply with the order could face civil or criminal prosecution, the order states.
Hidalgo County issued a shelter-at-home order July 20, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says the order is unenforceable, according to The Texas Tribune.
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