As COVID-19 grabbed the world’s attention, Texas’ efforts to control tuberculosis slipped

Nurses look over the X-rays of COVID-19 patients in the COVID-19 unit at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance Health System in Edinburg. (Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune)

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Narciso Lopez has spent more than two decades working to control the spread of tuberculosis in South Texas. He used to think that when patient traffic into the clinics where he worked was slow, that meant the surrounding community was healthy. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, that changed.