No one should have died from something that was preventable. It's sad to ponder not just our failed infrastructure, but also our failed leadership. And now we learn from this Austin American-Statesman piece in great detail how Gov. Abbott disbanded his already impotent "Strike Force to Open Texas" long before he issues his re-opening/no-mask mandate. Curiously, this group "finished" its work in October! How is this possible as we've been smack dab in the middle of this pandemic?!

He's reckless and simply doesn't care. So terribly sad and tragic with the many deaths for which he shall be responsible due to his patent lack of concern for fellow Texans. 

We did not ask for this. We do not deserve this.

-Angela Valenzuela

#WinterStorm

'She wasn't supposed to go this way': 57 confirmed to have died from Texas freeze, early report says

Katie Hall, Lee Rood, & Krista Johnson

March 15, 2021 | Austin American-Statesman

Katie HallLee RoodKrista Johnson

Austin American-Statesman

Diana Martinez Rangel was the epitome of strength, resilience and kindness to her family. She'd learned to navigate the world without her hearing, raised six children, persevered through multiple heart attacks and stuck to a strict dialysis regimen for the past seven years.

Inside her Manor home, weeks after the mid-February Texas freeze, her son Miguel Rangel said he was still in shock that she had died. 

“It just hurts because she wasn’t supposed to go this way,” Rangel said.

In stage 4 kidney failure, Martinez Rangel needed dialysis treatments three times each week. After the freeze left millions across the state without electricity or water, the dialysis center she depended on had to shutter. The day before they reopened, she died.

Although a medical examiner has yet to confirm her cause of death, the Rangel family believes it was because she could not get the medical attention she required while the city's infrastructure buckled under the strain of freezing temperatures. 

If true, she joins the list of at least 57 other Texans whose lives were claimed by the harsh freeze. One month later, it is still unclear how many deaths happened in Travis County. 

The state has so far confirmed that 57 people across Texas died as a result of last month's winter freeze, though Travis County has not yet reported any deaths, the Texas Department of State Health Services announced on Monday. 

The state's list is still preliminary and subject to change as more death records are reviewed and more information is gathered, state officials said. 

Nearly half of the deaths have so far been recorded in Harris County. State officials have verified that 25 people in that county died for reasons related to the freeze, though the Houston Chronicle estimated the number is closer to 50.

It's unclear why the Houston area makes up nearly half the list, said Douglas Loveday, Department of State Health Services spokesman.

"It could be more deaths happened there," Loveday said. "It could be the medical examiner has done a really comprehensive job of notifying us."

The Texas Department of State Health Services is tracking freeze-related deaths that occurred from Feb. 11 and March 5. The majority of storm-related deaths verified to this point were associated with hypothermia. Multiple people have also died from car crashes, carbon monoxide poisoning, medical equipment failure, falls and fires, department officials said. 

In Travis County, three people died in an East Austin house fire during the freeze. The Austin Fire Department is aware of reports that it might have been attributed to an indoor fire to keep warm, but on Monday, Austin fire investigators said they had not confirmed that.

Corrine Harris, who was 92 and wheelchair-bound, and two live-in caregivers died after that fire broke out in her blue bungalow in the 2900 block of East 12th Street. 

Born the oldest among five siblings in Austin in July 1928, Harris died a day after the fire, on Feb. 18, at Dell Seton Medical Center.

Jewel Andrews, her youngest sibling, said she was told by hospital nurses treating her sister that she suffered smoke inhalation, but no burns. 

"I learned about it when I saw it on TV. Breaking news," said Andrews, 82. "It was very, very hard to see that and not go to her. But there was ice and snow, and I couldn’t go to her. I couldn’t. It wasn’t safe."

Andrews said she did not know the last names of her sister's caregivers, who began living with her after those falls.

A woman died from cardiac arrest Feb. 15 at the encampment near U.S. 183 and Texas 71 that Gov. Greg Abbott set up for people experiencing homelessness, Austin-Travis County EMS officials said. It is unclear whether the death was related to the cold weather, they said.

One man who was close with her and who lives at the camp identified her as Justine. 

"What if I had been there?" said Mike Field, who had left his tent to visit friends in East Austin when she died. "Maybe things would've changed." 

The Texas Department of State Health Services is notified of freeze-related deaths when medical certifiers submit a department form, specifying that a particular death was related to a disaster; when medical certifiers flag a death record as disaster-related; or when state epidemiologists match public reports of disaster-related deaths to death records.

The list will be updated weekly, state health officials said. This is the current tally:

Confirmed Texas deaths because of February freeze

Aransas: 1

Bandera: 1

Bexar: 1

Cass: 1

Collin: 2

Fort Bend: 2

Frio: 1

Galveston: 1

Grayson: 1

Hale: 1

Harris: 25

Hill: 2

Hopkins: 1

Kendall: 1

Lavaca: 2

Lee: 1

Montgomery: 1

Pecos: 1

Rusk: 1

San Saba: 1

Sutton: 1

Taylor: 5

Wharton: 1

Wichita: 1

Williamson: 1

Total: 57