EXCLUSIVE: Virus, what virus? No panic buying in El Paso as shelves are fully stocked, residents are seen leisurely shopping at strip malls and dining indoors despite the Texas town being the Covid-19 epicenter with hospitals filled to capacity
It's business as usual for residents of El Paso, Texas despite the city being one of the nation's coronavirus epicenters as cases continue to rise.
El Paso has had 22,000 new cases in the past week alone, with more than 35,000 active Covid-19 cases - 77,186 in total - and 839 deaths since March. With a population of only 680,000 residents, it has more active cases than the cities of Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio combined.
But despite the rise in cases, residents are going about their daily business with little panic about the virus.
DailyMail.com spotted people out shopping at the local strip malls and dining out. Several restaurants are opened for dine-in eating and at the local Famous Dave's has a huge sign that says, 'Dine-In Now Open.'
In downtown El Paso, city workers were busy setting up Christmas decorations at the town square, while nearby business shop owners put their goods out on the sidewalk in an attempt to bring in customers.
It's business as usual for residents of El Paso, Texas despite the city being one of the nation's coronavirus epicenters as cases continue to rise, as one woman is seen shopping downtown
DailyMail.com spotted people out shopping at the local strip malls, and dining out, with several area restaurants open for 'dine-in' eating
The local Costco and Walmart had plenty of toilet paper, meat, hand sanitizer and more while shelves in other cities are bare due to panic buying
With a population of only 680,000 residents, El Paso has more active cases than the cities of Dallas, Houston, Austin combined
While wearing a mask is mandatory to enter into businesses, several residents were observed not wearing one when out in public. Even a local El Paso PD bicycle officer was spotted not wearing a mask while riding around the downtown area.
Several cities in the country have reported 'panic buying', with frantic shoppers cleaning out stores of toilet paper, hand sanitizer and food. But that's not the case in El Paso. The local Costco and Walmart had plenty of toilet paper, meat, hand sanitizer and more.
There weren't mass lines in stores either, which has been the case in other cities.
One local El Pasoan Miguel Jimenez, 45, told DailyMail.com while out shopping that he wasn't too worried about catching coronavirus, saying, 'If we get the Covid we get it, it's God's will.'
A Covid-19 testing center at the University of Texas El Paso was nearly empty on Thursday, with only about 10 cars waiting to be tested, which pales in comparison with other Texas cities and across the country where the wait has been several hours.
Another free Covid-19 testing center in El Paso was completely empty, with no one in line waiting to be tested.
The only true sign of the pandemic in the city is near the University Medical Center where there are several portable tents in the parking lot set up for potential Covid-19 patients.
There weren't mass lines in stores with people panic buying toilet paper and cases of water, which has been the case in other cities
Only a handful of vehicles are seen in line for drive thru COVID-19 testing at the University of Texas at El Paso
Bars in El Paso are still open, with few patrons pictured inside of this one. More than 132,700 new cases were announced across the United States on Friday, with more than 1,000 deaths reported for the fourth straight day
The southern Texas city that sits on the Rio Grande, bordering Juarez, Mexico, is one of the nation's coronavirus epicenters.
The state of Texas recently surpassed one million confirmed cases of the virus, with 19,000 dead.
The hospitals in the city are filled up with Covid-19 patients.
They account for more than half of all of the hospital admissions in El Paso and 1 in 6 Covid patients hospitalized in Texas are in El Paso.
Morgues are overrun with the dead.
Last week inmates from the local jail were photographed transporting dead Covid-19 patients in and out of refrigerated trucks at the county's medical examiner's office.
More than 132,700 new cases were announced across the United States on Friday, with more than 1,000 deaths reported for the fourth straight day.
El Paso had 22 deaths.
This graph shows the U.S. cities where new cases are increasing the fastest
These Metro areas show where new cases are rising the fastest, on a population-adjusted basis
The southern Texas city that sits on the Rio Grande, bordering Juarez, Mexico, is one of the nation's coronavirus epicenters
In downtown El Paso, city workers were busy setting up Christmas decorations at the town square
The city of El Paso jumped into the spotlight when a travel nurse went on Facebook Live on November 7 where she described the 'horrific' conditions at a local El Paso hospital.
Registered nurse Lawanna Rivers took to Facebook to describe her time at the University Medical Center in El Paso where she claims patients were taken to a room called The Pit and given just three rounds of CPR before being pronounced dead
Registered nurse Lawanna Rivers took to Facebook to describe her time at the University Medical Center in El Paso where she claims patients were taken to a room called The Pit and given just three rounds of CPR before being pronounced dead.
In her video posted to Facebook she said: 'My first day at orientation, I was told that whatever patients go into the pit, they only come out in a body bag. I saw a lot of people die that I felt like shouldn't have died.
'This hospital's policy was they only get three rounds of CPR which was only six minutes, this out of all the codes we had, there is not a single patient that made it.'
Rivers said she left her assignment in El Paso early because she couldn't bear to watch more patients die.
'I've seen so many deaths in this last month than I've seen in my entire 13-year career,' Rivers said.
She said she was also afraid for her life and the kind of care she would receive if she got sick there.
I kept saying: 'I can't get sick here in Texas, because if I get COVID here in Texas ... I'm going to die. It was that bad,' she said.
An inmate from El Paso County detention center waits to help load bodies wrapped in plastic into a refrigerated temporary morgue trailer in a parking lot of the El Paso County Medical Examiner's office on Monday
University Medical Center spokesman, Ryan Mielke sent DailyMail.com the following statement in response to Rivers' comments.
'After watching the video, while we cannot fully verify the events expressed, we empathize and sympathize with the difficult, physical, and emotional toll that this pandemic takes on thousands of healthcare workers here and throughout our country. This particular travel nurse was at UMC briefly to help El Paso confront the surge of COVID-19 patients.'
In the aim of stopping the spread of the COVID-19 the city of El Paso placed 19 mobile hand-washing stations throughout the downtown area.
Officials worry that the spread of the virus is going to get worse before it gets better and are particularly worried about the upcoming holiday period and have asked residents to limit the number of people at their family gatherings.