Some Republican governors are dropping their resistance to mask mandates, as public health officials in the United States brace for a COVID-19 surge from the Thanksgiving holiday amid already record-high infection rates.

However, Republican resistance to other public health safety measures continues as coronavirus cases in Texas reach record highs for a second time during the pandemic.

El Paso County, an area along the U.S.-Mexico border where 80% of residents are Latinx, is also facing one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the U.S. and now has 10 mobile morgues to hold bodies.

Some prisoners are being paid just $2 an hour to move the bodies as the number of cases and deaths has completely overwhelmed local hospitals. “We’re at capacity,” says Dr. Emilio Gonzalez-Ayala, a leading pulmonary disease and critical care specialist in El Paso.

“We’re beyond the limit where we can continue to admit to the hospital patients that come in critically ill.”

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Coronavirus Covid COVID-19 Dr. Emilio Gonzalez-Ayala El Paso Mexico Texas United States