Area Numbers Show Surge in New Cases, Deaths

COVID-19 Update August 13

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

EAST TEXAS – Unfortunately, the number of new COVID-19 cases keeps trending in the wrong direction.

By Friday of last week, America’s seven-day average of daily Covid-19 cases was more than 107,100 – the highest average in nearly six months, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The last time average daily cases topped 100,000 was February 11. Average daily cases have seen a nine-fold increase since early July.

According to officials with the Texas Department of State Health Services (TxDSHS) the increase was blamed on the highly contagious delta variant, which can even be spread by those fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. “Breakthrough cases” among those who have been fully vaccinated are inevitable, especially among those without strong immune responses. Officials suggest, however, that those vaccinated people who do get sick with COVID-19 are likely to have a shorter, milder illness.

On the local front, TxDSHS reported another 120 COVID-19 related fatalities in the Lone Star State on Thursday, August 12.

In addition, the TxDSHS indicated on August 12, there were 81 estimated, active cases in Houston County with approximately 1,963 people who have recovered. There have also been 60 reported deaths. Last week, there were 71 active cases and 59 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, it was announced on Thursday, August 12 the county had a total of 166 active cases. There have also been 3,547 recoveries and 135 reported deaths. Last week, there were 100 active cases and 134 deaths.

On Tuesday, March 31, 2020, 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 August 12 showed: Angelina – 548 active cases and 292 fatalities, last week there were 441 active cases with 289 fatalities; Cherokee – 181 active cases and 149 fatalities, last week there were 92 active cases with 149 fatalities; Freestone – 108 active cases and 54 fatalities, last week there were 70 active cases with 51 fatalities; Henderson – 571 active cases and 203 fatalities, last week there were 324 active cases with 201 fatalities; Leon – 101 active cases and 44 fatalities, last week there were 75 active cases with 43 fatalities; Madison – 90 active cases and 31 fatalities, last week there were 55 active cases with 31 fatalities; Trinity – 93 active cases and 33 fatalities, last week there were 63 active cases with 31 fatalities; and Walker – 283 active case and 135 fatalities, last week there were 143 active cases with 134 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 throughout 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, 2020 – the only county with a confirmed case of the Coronavirus bordering Houston or Anderson County was Walker County.

By August 12, 2021, approximately 2.77 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been reported in Texas while 52,787 Texans had 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 August 12 update showed a total of 34,997,682 Coronavirus tests had been administered in Texas with 10,791 current hospitalizations, up from 7,685 last week. The TxDSHS also reported 3,004,190 recoveries.

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 August 12, the positivity rate was 18.78%, a significant increase from last week when the rate stood at 17.71%.

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 August 13, across the US there have been 36,307,177 confirmed cases of COVID-19 – an increase of 959,595 from a week ago.

The CSSE also reported there were 619,094 US residents who had suffered a COVID-19 related death as of August 13 – an increase of 4,236 deaths from a week ago.

Worldwide, on August 13, as of 9:21 am, there have been 205,611,815 (last week – 200,485,291) confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 4,338,593 (last week – 4,261,527) deaths attributed to the virus. The CDC, WHO and the CSSE are also reporting 4,602,803,417 vaccine doses have been administered.

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