The Reagan County Care Center has 12 positive cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday evening.

Reagan Hospital District CEO Jonathon Voelkel confirmed the cases with the Wildcat on Tuesday.

"All 12 are currently in stable condition," Voelkel said. "The remaining residents all tested negative for the virus."

Along with the 12 residents, Voelkel also confirmed that a total of 11 Care Center employees have also tested positive for the virus.

The Reagan County Care Center has six residents who tested positive for COVID-19.

Reagan Hospital District CEO Jonathon Voelkel confirmed the first positive case at the Care Center to the Wildcat on Monday.

He confirmed the other five Thursday morning.

"The good news is all six of those residents are doing well and are in stable condition," Voelkel said. "We are following FEMA and HHS guidelines as we navigate this situation. We have set up zones within the Care Center to try and mitigate the spread of the virus to other residents."

Reagan County Judge Jim O'Bryan will not opt Reagan County out of Governor Greg Abbott's face covering mandate.

O'Bryan said on Saturday that he intended to file the appropriate form this morning (Monday morning) with the State to exempt Reagan County from the mandate.

"I've thought about it hard over the weekend," O'Bryan said. "Our cases have not crossed the 20 active positive threshold, but they have jumped to 12 active in a short period of time."

O'Bryan said that rapid increase over the past week was the driving factor in him deciding against filing the for the exemption.

Reagan County added three more positive COVID-19 cases to its total yesterday with two of those coming from Reagan County Care Center employees.

The three positives raise the total number attributed to Reagan County to nine. The total number of positive cases is a cumulative figure which will never go down.

The Texas Department of State Health Services is showing Reagan County has two recoveries out of the nine total cases.

Two Reagan County Care Center employees have tested positive for COVID-19 according to Reagan Hospital District CEO Jonathan Voelkel.

Voelkel said the employees were not in direct patient care areas, and exhibited no symptoms of the virus prior to testing.

The Care Center began testing all residents and employees following the directive handed down by the State and Federal governments.

Reagan County's Tristan Ortiz has been named to the San Angelo Standard-Times West Texas All-Decade Team.

Ortiz, a 2019 graduate from Reagan County High School, was named to the list for his work on the offensive line.

Laura Adilene Harville Settle, 93, passed from this life to the next on Sunday, December 6, 2020. She was born near Oplin, Texas at the family home to Tina Bartley Harville and Sidney S. Harville on April 8, 1927.

Henry Herbert Settle passed from this life to the next on March 3, 2020.

He was born on March 17, 1927 in Baird, Texas, to Lilly Hampton Settle and S. Ernest Settle.

He grew up in Baird and graduated from Baird High School.