FORT WORTH (WBAP/KLIF)- The Fort Worth City Council approved an ordinance that grants The Tarrant County Health Department the ability to quarantine a sick person through a court order, if they’re unwilling to self quarantine themselves.
Fort Wort Code Compliance Director Brandon Bennett said this control order is only applicable if the city has declared a public health disaster declaration, whether its for COVID-19 or another disease.
Bennett says this ordinance is mostly for those who don’t have the mental capacity or the desire to protect their own health or others in the community. “One of those most susceptible to this are the homeless, we know they have many challenges, mental health and other things”, said Bennett. “This would enable us to reasonably quarantine a person, provide them medical care, get them through treatment of the virus and then they can move about freely there after,” he said.
The city’s stay at home order is in effect through April 7th. Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price is urging everyone to stay home and only go out for essential items or business. She said social distancing is the only way to flatten the curve and keep the hospitals from seeing a significant surge. “We have 5,300 hospital beds in Tarrant County and at any given time about 85% of those are full. The estimate is if we don’t begin to slow the virus we can easily have 12,000 people who need hospital care,” said Price.
The stay at home order is enforceable through fines and possible jail time.