Allen Fire Chief Asks Residents To Make Sacrifices This Holiday Season To Prevent COVID-19 Spread
ALLEN, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd says he's concerned about the increase in COVID-19 cases he's seeing in Collin County.
In the city with 100,000 residents, Chief Boyd is asking residents to make sacrifices.
He said cases are surging at a rate the suburban city hasn't seen since mid-summer.
Collin County reported 111 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the total case count to 17,048.
The county has also recorded 172 deaths.
Chief Boyd is urging residents to avoid large gatherings of friends and families from now through the holidays.
He says Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas will tempt people to get together for parties and events.
Allen has three large shopping centers and the largest high school in North Texas where many students are back in class.
The chief said he worries people may let their guards down with masks and social distancing at a time they can't afford to.
"Those are the hardest things to sacrifice because we all look forward to those things and we put them on the calendar because that's when we see our family again," said Chief Boyd. I'm hoping that people understand that this is the year we have to make those kind of sacrifices so that this year is not the last Thanksgiving that we see our parents or grandparents."
Chief Boyd anticipates his city and Collin County will see case numbers spike in a few weeks.
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