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City officials decide to continue COVID-19 briefings biweekly, after miscommunication

"Our COVID-19 Briefings are coordinated through our health district, the communication that came out was an error,” Mayor Guajardo said.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — In a news release from the the City of Corpus Christi, due to a decline in recent COVID-19 surges the city decided to end briefings.

The meetings have been a long joint effort between the City, County, and health leaders to keep the community informed on everything from COVID-19 stats to vaccine clinics.

Therefore, shortly after the statement was made public, it sparked reaction from County Judge Barbara Canales, who had been unaware of that decision.

"Well, I got a press release, that's how I found out formally, that was this afternoon,” Canales said.

At the time Canales said there had been no discussion between the entities to end the briefings and was even ready to continue having them weekly without the City.

"This is a mistake because winter is coming literally,” Canales said.

Additionally, Canales said that the County wants to continue the briefings even if the City is not included.

"They don't want to do it, that's fine but the County does, the County believes it’s our obligation,” Canales said.

"Despite our gratefulness that our positivity cases are going down, my concern remains for the 200 people in the hospital, the 80 in the ICU and 60 on vents," Canales said.

Additionally, Canales also expects even more information to come down from the CDC and FDA as new boosters possibly get approved.

The release from the city stated that the Public Health District would continue to monitor the latest developments and would hold new briefings should the need arise.

However, here's where this story takes a turn.

After reaching out to Corpus Christi Mayor, Paulette Guajardo to get her response to judge Canales' statements, she was also surprised.

Guajardo was caught off guard by the City's release, and after making some calls, she said it was all a big mistake.

"Our COVID-19 Briefings are coordinated through our health district, the communication that came out was an error,” Guajardo said.

Additionally, Guajardo said it was sometime during talks between the health district and city staff when the information was misconstrued.

“What was asked and talked about was going to be every other week, and that was agreed upon by all parties," Guajardo said.

According to Guajardo it’s important that the health district continue to provide up to date information, and said any decision to end the briefings would include discussion between everyone involved.

“That's why none of it really makes sense,” Guajardo said. “Because the 3 parties would have come together the City, County, and the health director.”

The city sent out an updated version, letting the public know that the briefings will in fact be held every other week.

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