Houston County Reports First Cases of COVID-19
Weekly Update on Spread of Coronavirus
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
HOUSTON COUNTY – So far, in Houston County, we’ve been very lucky. Unfortunately, our good fortune may be about to head south and on Friday, April 17, it appears as if Lady Luck’s smile faded. Information was received late Friday afternoon which indicated the oldest county in Texas now has three cases of COVID-19.
According to a post on the city of Crockett’s official Facebook page, “As of this afternoon, April 17, 2020, the City of Crockett received news from Crockett Medical Center that there are three Houston County residents that tested positive for COVID-19. We just now received the update that these tests were confirmed by a CDC lab, however this has not yet been verified by the Texas Department of State Health Services (TxDSHS).”
The Messenger first started tracking the spread of the virus in the East Texas area on Wednesday, March 25. At that time, the TxDSHS reported there were 13,325 COVID-19 tests which had been administered. The TDHHS further reported 974 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus Disease and 12 deaths in the Lone Star State.
Also on that Wednesday, the TxDSHS indicated 82 out of 254 counties in the state of Texas had at least one confirmed case of COVID-19.
Of those counties – as of March 25 – the only county with a confirmed case of the Coronavirus bordering Houston or Anderson County was Walker County.
In a span of less than 24 hours, the TxDSHS reported there were 1,396 cases and 18 deceased. The Thursday, March 26 update from the TxDSHS also indicated there were 92 counties with a reported case of COVID-19. Among the 10 new counties were Angelina and Nacogdoches Counties.
On Friday, March 27, the TxDSHS updated the figures to show there had been 23,666 COVID-19 tests administered. Of those tests, 1,731 cases have been confirmed as positive for the virus. The TxDSHS update further indicated the Coronavirus has caused 23 deaths in the state of Texas.
Of the 254 Texas counties, on Friday the 27th, the TxDSHS also reported 105 now have at least one confirmed case of COVID-19. Listed among the 13 new counties was Cherokee County, which borders both Houston and Anderson Counties.
Anderson County Judge Robert Johnston announced on Tuesday, March 31 that Anderson County had its first confirmed case of the virus.
A press release from the city of Palestine stated as of April 16, Anderson County now has six confirmed cases. Two cases have been identified as travel-acquired cases while three cases have been identified as exposure in a workplace. The source for the sixth case has not yet been determined. All six of the confirmed cases in Anderson County are in home isolation under the care of a physician.
On Thursday, April 2, the TxDSHS reported 50,679 COVID-19 tests had been administered. The results showed there were 4,669 cases in Texas, with 70 people reported dead. In addition, 143 of the 254 – or 56 percent – counties in Texas had at least one confirmed case of the Coronavirus.
By Friday, April 3, 55,764 tests had been administered in Texas. Of those tests, 5,330 tested positive. The TxDSHS also reported 90 deaths attributed to the Coronavirus. Furthermore, nearly 58 percent of all counties had at least one reported case.
By Thursday, April 9, the TxDSHS indicated 106,134 tests had been administered which resulted in 10,230 people testing positive for COVID-19. Of those who tested positive, 1,439 people had been hospitalized.
The April 9 update also reported 12 more people had perished, bringing the total to 199. Also, the TxDSHS has reported 170 counties with at least one case of the Coronavirus, or approximately 67 percent of all 254 Texas counties.
The numbers have continued to grow and as of Friday, April 17 as of 11:45 am, 169,536 tests had been administered with 17,371 individuals testing positive for the Coronavirus. Of those who tested positive, the TxDSHS reports 1,522 people have been hospitalized.
The April 17 update also showed deaths associated with the virus had more than doubled over the week going from 199 to 428.
Since last week, the number of counties with at least one case has gone from 170 to 192 counties or approximately 76 percent of all 254 Texas counties.
A new feature on the TxDSHS website is a report on hospitals. As of April 9, the TxDSHS reported the state of Texas had a total of 50,936 beds. Of the nearly 51,000 beds only 20,488 are available, including 2,248 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds. The TxDSHS also reported the state of Texas has 6,361 available ventilators.
By April 17, the numbers had increased slightly the TxDSHS reported the state of Texas had a total of 51,409 beds. Of the nearly 52,000 beds only 21,247 are available, including 2,543 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds. The TxDSHS also reported the state of Texas has 6,971 available ventilators.
According to the TxDSHS website there are 24 Trauma Service Areas (TSA) in the state of Texas. Houston and Anderson Counties are located in TSA G. The 2019 Population Estimate in TSA G was 970,139.
The April 17 numbers showed there are 1,731 total hospital beds in the area with 736 available. Of those 736 beds, there are 103 ICU beds along with 195 available ventilators. Currently, there are 43 lab-confirmed COVID-19 patients in the area hospitals.
As you can see, the COVID-19 disease is spreading at an alarming rate in Texas. In a three-week time period – from Wednesday, March 25 until Friday April 17 – the number of confirmed cases has jumped from 974 to 17,371 – an increase of 16,397 cases. From Wednesday, March 25 through Friday, April 17, deaths attributed to COVID-19 have risen from 12 to 428.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE), as of April 17, across the US there were 699,105 cases of COVID-19 up from 432,596 on April 9.
Last week the number of Coronavirus related deaths stood at 14,831. By Friday of this week, the death toll stood at 36,773 deaths. The organizations also reported 58,469 patients have recovered.
Worldwide, there were 2,240,191 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 153,379 deaths attributed to the virus. The CDC, WHO and the CSSE are also reporting 567,695 patients have recovered from the disease.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
