One of the Flower Mound Fire Department’s own is currently in El Paso to help amid a surge in coronavirus cases that’s pushing the city’s hospitals to the brink.
FMFD Emergency Management Officer Brandon Barth was deployed to El Paso on Sunday “due to the COVID-19 surge and overwhelming amount of hospitalizations in the area,” according to FMFD. Barth is serving as a medical incident support team member at a local hospital, working to facilitate air evacuations of COVID-19 patients to create more capacity.
The Associated Press reported Wednesday that El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, a metro area of 3 million people across the U.S./Mexico border, are facing twin disasters from the surge, which health officials are blaming on family gatherings, multiple generations living in the same household and younger people going out to shop or conduct business.