Ben Oakley has been mostly pleased with how Blanco County residents have conducted themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Overall, Blanco County is doing a fantastic job,” said Oakley, chief of the Blanco County Emergency Services District 2 at the April 21 board meeting held online via Zoom.

There were 15 likely and five confirmed cases in Blanco County as of last week’s meeting. That total does not include the eight people who were confirmed this week to have antibodies but show no symptoms of the virus.

Oakley said one concern was the lack of testing in Blanco County. The state has been overwhelmed, he said, and testing should come to the county soon. Dr. Craig Manifold, the county’s local health authority, announced Monday that testing should be available in Blanco County within one to two weeks.

The biggest concern heading into the pandemic in Blanco County was its healthcare capacity, since there are no hospitals in the county. That hasn’t been an issue to this point.

The ESD2 board unanimously approved terms to accept funds from the CARES Act. To help fight the pandemic, the federal government automatically sent funds to many health care organizations to offset certain expenses. The organizations must approve the terms of the agreement or send the funds back to the federal government.

ESD2 was set to receive between $7,000 to $8,000 in CARES Act funds, Oakley said. The terms required that health care organizations not charge COVID-19 patients for services. For instance, if a COVID-19 patient was transported by ESD2 and the patient has insurance, ESD2 could only bill the insurance company. If the insurance company did not pay the full amount owed, ESD2 could not bill the patient who was transported. That’s one of the ways that funds from the CARES Act are intended to be used.

Oakley reported that the injector in Engine 82 has been repaired, and the unit is back in service. Information is being compiled for Engine 81, and the ESD will look at those options soon. Engine 81 has been out of service due to a wiring issue.

The next regular meeting will be held at 3 p.m. on May 19.