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Curfew Enacted in El Paso as Hospitals, ICUs Hit Capacity

Questioning the Universe With Wonderment: ‘Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery’

Science, with people believing that the truths it offers are absolute, has become a source from which many people gather their beliefs. The Age of Enlightenment was a philosophical catalyst in helping science gain a foothold over religion and faith, with some of the era eventually seeing them as outdated and even harmful modes of belief. Science is always advancing, however, and the scientific truth of yesterday—despite being thought of as absolute—is often overturned by new evidence tomorrow. As science continues to develop and evolve, is there a place for those things that exist outside the domain of science, such as religion and faith? Asking these questions makes me think of a scientific artist I loved as a young boy, Joseph Wright of Derby. As an adult, however, I find myself…

Curfew Enacted in El Paso as Hospitals, ICUs Hit Capacity

El Paso County in Texas has ordered a curfew between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. after hospitals and intensive care units reached full capacity due to a surge of COVID-19 cases.

County Judge Ricardo Samaniego announced the curfew on Sunday evening, requiring residents of the county and El Paso City to stay at home, except those who provide essential services. Violations are punishable by a $500 fine, reported the El Paso Times.

“The purpose of the curfew is to limit mobility in the community,” Samaniego said during a virtual press conference. “Currently our hospitals are stretched to capacity.”

As of Monday morning, the county reported an all-time high 1,443 new CCP virus infections, according to the City/County of El Paso Health website. Hospitalization also reached a record high of 853, with 180 in intensive care units.

El Paso Public Health Director Angela Mora on Sunday asked residents to stay home for two weeks to help curb the spread of the CCP virus, citing a 300 percent increase in COVID-related hospitalizations in the past three weeks.

“If we continue on this trend, we risk detrimental effects to our entire healthcare system,” Mora said in a statement obtained by El Paso Times. “For the sake of those hospitalized and the frontline healthcare workers working tirelessly each day to care for them, we ask you to please stay home for two weeks and eliminate your interactions with those outside your household until we can flatten the curve.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday that El Paso’s civic center will be converted into a makeshift hospital. The center will initially be equipped with 50 beds but can be expand to 100 beds if needed. He also said the state has deployed 900 doctors, nurses, and other medical staff to El Paso, and some of them will be working at the civic center hospital.

In a follow-up statement, Abbott said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is sending a 35-person disaster medical assistance team, a trauma critical care team, and emergency coordinators to El Paso to fight the surge of COVID-19 cases. The federal resources are expected to arrive this week.

“Texas is grateful to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for providing these crucial resources and for working alongside state and local officials to combat the spread of COVID-19 in El Paso,” said the Republican governor. “We are working closely with our federal and local partners to meet the needs of the El Paso community and ultimately bring hospitalizations down.”

Focus News: Curfew Enacted in El Paso as Hospitals, ICUs Hit Capacity

Popcorn and Inspiration: ‘High Noon’: A Moving Western About Standing Up for What’s Right

PG | 1h 25min | Drama, Thriller, Western | 30 July 1952 (USA) Similar to 1960’s “The Magnificent Seven,” director Fred Zinnemann’s “High Noon” (1952) is a Western about courage and standing up for what’s right, no matter the odds. And although this film shares that message, it doesn’t begin as dramatically as the later film does. “High Noon” starts off much more subtly, with shots of scruffy henchman Jack Colby (Lee Van Cleef) smoking a cigarette under a tree. Soon, he is joined by a couple of similar, devious-looking men, Jim Pierce (Robert Wilke) and Ben Miller (Sheb Wooley). The three men travel via horseback to a lone train station to await the noontime arrival of their leader, Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald). Not too far away is the dusty…