Update on Spread of Coronavirus – July 24

Texas Sees Daily High of 197 Fatalities

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

HOUSTON COUNTY – Quite frankly, COVID-19 is not going away any time soon and it appears to only be getting worse as the state of Texas reported 197 fatalities related to the virus on Wednesday, July 22. On Friday, July 24, the death toll was 196.

The first cases of COVID-19 were reported in Houston County on April 17, when it was learned three individuals had tested positive for the virus. As of Friday, May 1 at 12:30 pm, the number had moved to nine. By May 29, the number stood at 36. County officials had also listed six recoveries as of that Friday.

This week, on July 24, Emergency Management Coordinator Roger Dickey reported there were 65 active cases in the county with an additional 78 people who had recovered. There have also been two reported deaths. Last week, there were 47 active cases.   

Meanwhile, in Anderson County, County Judge Robert Johnston announced on Tuesday, March 31 that Anderson County had its first confirmed case of the virus. The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 had increased from 14 on Tuesday, April 21 to 19 on Saturday, April 25 and by May 1, the number stood at 30. On May 28, there were 72 cases with 33 recovered for a total of 39 active cases.

By July 24, Anderson County reported 396 people had tested positive for the virus with 177 recoveries, for a total of 217 active cases.  There have also been two reported deaths. Last week there were 215 active cases. 

The number of cases per county – for those counties surrounding Houston and Anderson Counties – as of May 1 were:  Angelina – 54; Cherokee – 16; Freestone – 5; Henderson – 25; Leon – 6; Madison – 1; Trinity – 8; and Walker – 269. These numbers do not show recoveries.

On May 28, the number of cases per county showed: Angelina – 201; Cherokee – 44; Freestone – 10; Henderson – 57; Leon – 10; Madison – 8; Trinity – 13; and Walker – 869. These numbers do not show recoveries.

By July 24, the number of active COVID-19 cases per county showed: Angelina – 819, up from 421 last week; Cherokee – 474, up from 308 last week; Freestone 64, up from 57 last week; Henderson – 361, up from 232 last week; Leon 58, a slight drop from 61 last week; Madison 147, up from 128 last week; Trinity 63, up from 42 last week; and Walker 496, up from 479 last week.

The Messenger first started tracking the spread of the virus in the East Texas area on Wednesday, March 25. At that time, the Texas Department of State Health Services (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. 

By July 24, 250 out of 254 – or 98% of counties in the state of Texas – had at least one active case of COVID-19.

After issuing a stay-at-home executive order on April 2, less than a month later – on May 1 – Gov. Gregg Abbott began to open the state of Texas back up. Unfortunately, the spread of the virus does not appear to have slowed down.  

The TxDSHS update for Friday, May 1 was released at 12 pm and reported 351,775 tests had been administered with 29,229 people testing positive for the virus. Of those who tested positive, 1,778 people had been hospitalized.

Furthermore, the May 1 update reported the number of people who have perished because of the Coronavirus had risen from 593 on April 24 to 816 by that Friday.   

The numbers have continued to climb and on Wednesday, July 7, the state of Texas reported the largest single-day spike of new cases with 10,791. 

On May 28, the TxDSHS reported 989,994 tests had been given. Of those who had been tested, 59,776 were reported as positive for the virus with 1,701 currently hospitalized. In addition, the TxDSHS reported 38,905 recoveries.   

The July 24 update showed 3,231,931 Coronavirus tests had been administered with 369,826 positive results and 10,036 hospitalizations, down from 10,457 last week. The TxDSHS also reported 155,937 recoveries.    

Since May 1, when the governor began reopening the state, until July 24, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has risen from 29,229 to 369,826 for an increase of 340,597. The number of Texans who suffered COVID-19 related deaths has gone from 816 on May 1 to 4,717 on July 24.

Another metric touted by state officials has been the positivity rate. The positivity rate is found by dividing the number of new cases (previous 7 days) by the number of new test results (previous 7 days). 

On July 8, the state recorded the highest rate so far during the pandemic at 15.56%. That record was shattered on Thursday, July 17 when it came in at 17.43%. On Thursday, July 24 the positivity rate came was 13.73%. 

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.

By May 1, the number of cases of COVID-19 in the US had eclipsed the one million mark and stood at 1,114,365 – an increase of 260,361 cases from the previous week. By May 28, the number of confirmed cases stood at 1,725,656 – up 113,365 from the previous week. By early June, the number of positive COVID-19 cases had eclipsed the 2 million mark and on July 24, the number of positive cases reported was 4,084,551, an increase of 480,143 from the previous week.      

On April 9, the number of Coronavirus related deaths in the US stood at 14,831. By Friday, April 17, the death toll stood at 36,773 deaths. A week later, the number of dead had increased to 51,107. The updated numbers on May 1 showed 64,655 have died as a result of the virus – an increase of 13,548 in the span of seven days. The May 8 numbers showed 77,523 had died because of COVID-19. A grim milestone was reached as the death toll in the US surpassed the 100,000 mark and by May 28, the CSSE reported 101,706 had perished. By July 24, the CSSE reported 144,954 US residents had suffered a COVID-19 related death.      

The organizations also reported 1,233,269 patients have recovered in the US.

Worldwide, on July 24 as of 2:35 pm, there were 15,628,936 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 636,262 deaths attributed to the virus. The CDC, WHO and the CSSE are also reporting 8,917,141 patients have recovered from the disease. 

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].