Update on Spread of Coronavirus – Feb. 12

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 385 fatalities in the state of Texas related to the virus on Thursday, Feb. 11.

In addition, the TxDSHS indicated on Feb. 11, there were 81 estimated, active cases in Houston County with approximately 1380 people who have recovered. There have also been 36 reported deaths. Last week, there were 102 active cases and 35 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, Feb. 11, Anderson County had a total of 842 active cases. There have also been 2,192 recoveries and 72 reported deaths. Last week, there were 882 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 Feb. 11, showed:  Angelina – 693 active cases and 226 fatalities, last week there were 779 active cases with 240 fatalities; Cherokee – 13 active cases and 116 fatalities, last week there were 49 active cases with 108 fatalities; Freestone – 417 active cases and 38 fatalities, last week there were 395 active cases with 33 fatalities; Henderson – 1,738 active cases and 144 fatalities, last week there were 1,730 active cases with 133 fatalities; Leon – 294 active cases and 35 fatalities, last week there were 288 active cases with 34 fatalities; Madison – 207 active cases and 24 fatalities, last week there were 211 active cases with 23 fatalities; Trinity – 75 active cases and 20 fatalities, last week there were 66 active cases with 19 fatalities; and Walker – 532 active cases and 111 fatalities, last week there were 419 active cases with 106 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. 11, 2,196,882 confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been reported in Texas while 39,771 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. 11 update showed 21,567,143 total Coronavirus tests had been administered with 8,933 current hospitalizations, down from 12,380 last week. The TxDSHS also reported 2,184,719 recoveries.    

Since May 1, when the governor began reopening the state, until Feb. 11, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has risen from 29,229 to 2,196,882 for an increase of 2,167,653. The number of Texans who suffered COVID-19 related deaths has gone from 816 on May 1 to 39,771 on Feb. 11, an increase of 38,955.

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 Feb. 11, the positivity rate was 11.68%, a decrease from last week when the rate stood at 13.37%.   

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 Feb. 12, across the US there were 27,399,302 confirmed cases of COVID-19 – an increase of 683,118 from last week.

The CSSE also reported there were 475,776 456,900 US residents had suffered a COVID-19 related death as of Feb. 12 – an increase of 18,876 deaths from a week ago.       

Worldwide, on Feb. 12, as of 10:23 pm, there were 107,935,117 (last week – 105,142,821) confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 2,372,399 (last week – 2,291,061) deaths attributed to the virus. The CDC, WHO and the CSSE are also reporting 60,421,571 (last week – 58,467,033) patients have recovered from the disease. 

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