Update on Spread of Coronavirus – Feb. 5

Active Cases Decline, Death Toll Keeps Climbing

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

HOUSTON COUNTY – On Wednesday, Jan. 27 CNN reported, “The country averaged 3,349 COVID-19 deaths a day across a week as of Tuesday (Jan. 26). That’s very close to a pandemic peak average of 3,355 reached on January 13 – and far ahead of the averages around 1,000 just in mid-November.”

With the slower than expected roll-out of the vaccine and the new variants found in the virus, it doesn’t appear the disease is going away any time soon, despite the naysayers.

Closer to home, the Texas Department of Health Services (TxDSHS) reported another 439 fatalities in the state of Texas related to the virus on Thursday, Feb. 4.

In addition, the TxDSHS indicated on Feb. 4, there were 102 estimated, active cases in Houston County with approximately 1,337 people who have recovered. There have also been 35 reported deaths. Last week, there were 96 active cases and 32 deaths. 

The first cases of COVID-19 were reported in Houston County on April 17 of last year, when it was learned three individuals had tested positive for the virus.

Meanwhile, in Anderson County, County Judge Robert Johnston announced on Thursday, Jan. 28, Anderson County had a total of 882 active cases. There have also been 2,114 recoveries and 72 reported deaths. Last week, there were 901 active cases and 72 deaths.   

On Tuesday, March 31, it was reported Anderson County had its first confirmed case of the virus.

The number of active cases and fatalities per county – for those counties surrounding Houston and Anderson Counties, as of Jan. 28, showed:  Angelina – 779 active cases and 226 fatalities, last week there were 821 active cases with 213 fatalities; Cherokee – 49 active cases and 108 fatalities, last week there were 90 active cases with 103 fatalities; Freestone – 395 active cases and 33 fatalities, last week there were 49 active cases with 33 fatalities; Henderson – 1,730 active cases and 133 fatalities, last week there were 1,777 active cases with 123 fatalities; Leon – 288 active cases and 34 fatalities, last week there were 63 active cases with 33 fatalities; Madison – 211 active cases and 23 fatalities, last week there were 44 active cases with 21 fatalities; Trinity – 66 active cases and 19 fatalities, last week there were 79 active cases with 19 fatalities; and Walker – 419 active cases and 106 fatalities, last week there were 716 active cases with 96 fatalities.

The Messenger first started tracking the spread of the virus in the East Texas area on Wednesday, March 25 of last year. At that time, TxDSHS 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 Feb. 4, 2,132,595 confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been reported in Texas while 37,727 Texans have suffered a COVID-19 related death. Furthermore, 254 out of 254 – or 100% of counties in the state of Texas – now have or have had at least one active case of COVID-19.

The Feb. 4 update showed 20,664,753 total Coronavirus tests had been administered with 12,380 current hospitalizations, down from 12,380 last week. The TxDSHS also reported 2,037,888 recoveries.    

Since May 1, when the governor began reopening the state, until Feb. 4, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has risen from 29,229 to 2,132,595 for an increase of 2,103,366. The number of Texans who suffered COVID-19 related deaths has gone from 816 on May 1 to 37,727 on Feb. 4, an increase of 36,911.

A Newsweek article published in July of 2020 stated – at that time – Texans were dying every six minutes and 16 seconds from the coronavirus. Earlier this month, CNN reported a nationwide average of one COVID-19 death every 30 seconds.

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 Jan. 28, the positivity rate was 13.37%, a decrease from last week when the rate stood at 15.5%.   

Moving to the national stage, 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 Jan. 5, across the US there were 26,716,484 confirmed cases of COVID-19 – an increase of 899,005 from last week.

The CSSE also reported there were 456,900 US residents had suffered a COVID-19 related death as of Feb. 5 – an increase of 22,504 deaths from a week ago.       

Worldwide, on Feb. 5, as of 12:22 pm, there were 105,142,821 (last week – 101,803,875) confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 2,291,061 (last week – 2,198,644) deaths attributed to the virus. The CDC, WHO and the CSSE are also reporting 58,467,033 (last week – 56,243,058) patients have recovered from the disease. 

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