KAZ’S KORNER
Outdoors HUNTING & FISHING
SPORTS COMMENTARY
Capt. Chuck Uzzle Page 2 Section B
Page 1 Section B
ORANGE COUNTY
RELIGION & LOCAL CHURCH GUIDE
FISHING Capt. Dickie Colburn Page 1 Section B
Page 6B
The Record TheRecordLive.com
Vol. 60 No. 47
Distributed FREE To The Citizens of Bridge City and Orangefield
Week of Wednesday, April 29, 2020
OC Covid testing numbers get boost bee. This week, for the first time since government testing began March 29, people without symptoms of the virus (fever, dry cough, shortness of breath, chills, muscle pain, headache) are eligible for testing.
“Even at the normal sites, you don’t have to be symptomatic anymore,” Orange County Judge John Gothia said. “The Texas military is doing [testing] one day in each county.” Most public health officials giving interviews the
past month have agreed that the country needs much more testing, because there are so many unknowns about the bug that first appeared in China in late 2019. According to Tuesday’s statistics posted by the Orange County Emergency
Management Facebook home page, only 718 county residents have been tested so far, which is significantly less than 1 percent of the estimated 83,396 residents. With 70 confirmed cases, OC COVID TESTING Page 3A
Medical technicians from the Texas Military Mobile Health unit log test swabs taken from those receiving COVID-19 testing at a drive-through site at the Orange County Convention and Expo Center Tuesday. Photographers were not allowed on site or even take photos of the cars as county officials cited the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that safeguards patients’ medical information. RECORD PHOTO: Dave Rogers
DAVE ROGERS For The Record
Tracking the spread of the coronavirus across the globe is a numbers game and Orange County beefed up its numbers Tuesday. Nearly 100 residents took part in drive-through testing for the Covid-19 virus during a one-day program run by the Texas Military Mobile
Health unit at the Orange County Convention and Expo Center Tuesday. It was the first public testing opportunity in the county for residents, who previously had to go to private doctors or clinics or drivethrough testing sites set up by the Southeast Texas Regional Emergency Operations in Beaumont and Sils-
County considers economy, Coastal Spine agreement DAVE ROGERS For The Record
On the rainiest day in a short while, The Orange County Commissioners almost signed up Tuesday to get the latest version of the 26-mile “Ike Dike” for free. They opened talks on how the county can reach out to help small business owners recover from the economic shutdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. And they saluted TAN Healthcare, the Triangle Area Network, as “one of the community’s biggest assets and best kept secrets.” Founded as the Triangle AIDS Network in 1987 in response to the health crisis of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, TAN is a federally qualified health center that has transformed into a fullservice clinic providing comprehensive and primary care services for all individual in Southeast Texas, regardless of their ability to pay. TAN Healthcare is located at 3737 N. 16th St. and was represented at Tuesday’s meeting by Dena Gray Hughes, CEO; Lester Daigle, chairman of the board; and Misty Thibodeaux, director of quality. Hughes said TAN had recently received $583,000 in additional funding to spend on fighting the coronavirus and maintaining its opera-
tions for the remainder of the year. “Seventy percent of our patients are uninsured, and we have Gothia had a reduction in the number of patients coming in, people who need routine and chronic care medicine,” Hughes said. “But even though they may not come in, we now have telemedicine, and my staff has done an amazing job of making services available.” TAN charges patients based on their ability to pay, with copays normally around $10 or $15. But they can go up to $25, Hughes said, “if you’re a real financial baller.” Three different tests for the coronavirus are available at TAN. “The nose swab, or the antibody test, which just takes 15 minutes,” Hughes said, “or the blood draw, which, like the swab, takes three to five days to get a result.” The business is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Mondays and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. It has a new website at tanhealthcare.org . “It’s one of the county’s biggest assets and also one of its best secrets,” Commissioner Johnny Trahan said. The healthcare provider’s COUNTY BUSINESS Page 3A
High Tides brings water enthusiasts, diners to Cow Bayou . . . High Tides, at the foot of the historic Cow Bayou Swing Bridge, is bringing new life and economic development to Cow Bayou in Bridge City. Even with “social distancing” in place during the current Covid-19 emergency, boaters and take-out diners are enjoying the Cow Bayou shoreline and “orders-togo” on the beautifully designed and spacious wooden docks of High Tides as seen here from the upper deck last Saturday afternoon. Not since Joe Bailey’s Fish Camp of the 1950’s, on the opposite shore of Cow Bayou, has a landmark establishment offered as much excitement and fun for local water enthusiasts and diners as the newly completed High Tides, and never with as
much style. The restaurant and marina also offers boat fuel, ice and food on the shoreline as well as easy access to downtown Bridge City and the surrounding area. Wesley and Ronda Dishon of Bridge City held their grand opening for High Tides about seven weeks ago. They were open for just nine days before caution over the virus closed their dining area and nightly entertainment. On Friday, however, restaurants in Texas can loosen up some restrictions while the couple plans their High Tides grand opening reset that will bring back live music and good times to the Bridge City shoreline in the future. RECORD PHOTO: Mark Dunn
Virus brings Orange port a silver lining DAVE ROGERS For The Record
Don’t say the coronavirus is hurting everybody’s bottom line. The worldwide economic upheaval has also taken a big bite out of shipping. That, in turn, has brought four globetrotting cargo ships to the Port of Orange docks. The vessels, all from the same fleet, are expected to stay for at least a month and pay the port more than $10,000 per day, according to Keith Wallace, the longest tenured port commissioner. Based on a two-year-old estimate by a former port director, a month’s stay by the ships could generate an amount of cash equal to two or three months of normal income for the port. “We have ships periodically, but to have four large ships like this at dock and our slip be totally full is unusual,” said Lorrie Taylor,
The Saturday morning sun greets four globe-trotting tankers berthed at the Port of Orange’s Alabama Street Terminal for some repair work during the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. PHOTO: Courtesy Port of Orange
the current port director. “Besides the ships, we have one articulated barge and two regular barges in the slip. We are full. And it’s
been a long time since we’ve been that full.” Because the Sabine River is too shallow and narrow near the downtown port for the
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supersize ships that bring millions of dollars of business to Beaumont and Port ORANGE PORT Page 3A