Commissioners to accept flu monitoring grant

Aug. 28--Victoria County commissioners are expected to accept a $5,000 grant that will assist the public health department's efforts to monitor flu outbreaks.

The grant, which was awarded by Texas' Department of State Health Services, provides funds to improve Texas' ability to monitor flu outbreaks and detect new strains of the disease.

The flu monitoring program comes at the behest of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Victoria County epidemiologist Kyle McCauley.

"The CDC has benchmarks for how many influenza samples it needs to test," McCauley said. "The grant provides incentives to state health departments to provide more samples to the CDC and to monitor the disease at the local level."

The Victoria County Public Health Department will work with DeTar Hospital and Memorial Medical Center in Port Lavaca to provide influenza samples from patients to a state lab in Corpus Christi, which will then send the results to the CDC, McCauley said.

Most of the money from the grant will be used for supplies to test flu samples.

Victoria County commissioners are also expected to have a public hearing to discuss the placement of six stop signs in the Crestview subdivision.

The signs are intended to control speeding in the subdivision, Victoria County Precinct 2 Commissioner Kevin Janak said.

"We received complaints from residents about drivers speeding through Crestview," Janak said. "The stops will be four-way stops."

The stops signs are slated to be placed on Lee Street at the Summers Street and Carter Street intersections; on Crestview Drive at the intersections with Summers, Carter and Stone streets; and on Blake Street at the Stone Street intersection.

In other business, commissioners are expected to approve new juvenile detention contracts with Hill and Hood counties.

Starting Sept. 1, Victoria County will charge Hill and Hood counties $110 a day for each juvenile the Victoria County Regional Juvenile Justice Center detains. The center will charge $115 a day to treat each juvenile at a moderate level of care and $162.30 a day for each juvenile it treats at a specialized level of care. Also, the juvenile detention center will charge $200 a day for each pregnant juvenile offender it detains.

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