Border Observatory:

Situation Report: Pandemic at the Border

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Isolated from other major urban centers, the COVID-19 pandemic took its time arriving in the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez region. Once it did arrive in mid-March, it became apparent that our community was particularly vulnerable. A month of lockdown gave way to a premature reopening of the Texas economy and the willingness of state political leadership to sacrifice essential workers collided with the effects of economic inequality, a historically chronic lack of investment in healthcare, and tightened immigration enforcement at the border.