COVID-19 Numbers Continue to Climb

Update August 20

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

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

In article published by the Texas Tribune, Dr. Mark Casanova, a palliative care specialist in Dallas and a member of the Texas Medical Association’s COVID-19 Task Force stated, “We are entering the worst surge in sheer numbers. This is the fourth round of what should have been a three-round fight. We do have very sincere concerns that the numbers game is going to overwhelm us.”

On the local front, TxDSHS reported another 10,772 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 along with 184 related fatalities in the Lone Star State on Thursday, Aug. 19.

In addition, the TxDSHS indicated on Aug. 19, there were 148 estimated, active cases in Houston County with approximately 2,010 people who have recovered. There have also been 60 reported deaths. Last week, there were 81 active cases and 60 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, Aug. 19 the county had a total of 238 active cases. There have also been 3,868 recoveries and 83 reported deaths. Last week, there were 166 active cases and 83 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 Aug. 19 showed: Angelina – 907 active cases and 294 fatalities, last week there were 548 active cases with 292 fatalities; Cherokee – 290 active cases and 150 fatalities, last week there were 181 active cases with 149 fatalities; Freestone – 165 active cases and 54 fatalities, last week there were 108 active cases with 54 fatalities; Henderson – 754 active cases and 208 fatalities, last week there were 571 active cases with 203 fatalities; Leon – 143 active cases and 44 fatalities, last week there were 101 active cases with 44 fatalities; Madison – 110 active cases and 32 fatalities, last week there were 90 active cases with 31 fatalities; Trinity – 129 active cases and 35 fatalities, last week there were 93 active cases with 33 fatalities; and Walker – 374 active case and 137 fatalities, last week there were 283 active cases with 135 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 Aug. 19, 2021, approximately 2.86 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been reported in Texas while 53,564 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 Aug. 19 update showed a total of 35,843,193 Coronavirus tests had been administered in Texas with 12,705 current hospitalizations, up from 10,791 last week. The TxDSHS also reported 3,064,331 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 Aug. 19, the positivity rate was 18.5%, down slightly from last week when the rate stood at 18.78%.

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 Aug. 20, across the US there have been 37,314,846 confirmed cases of COVID-19 – an increase of 1,007,669 from a week ago.

The CSSE also reported there were 625,537 US residents who had suffered a COVID-19 related death as of Aug. 20 – an increase of 6,443 deaths from a week ago.

Worldwide, on Aug. 20, as of 10:21 am, there have been 210,243,119 (last week – 205,611,815) confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 4,408,024 (last week – 4,338,593) deaths attributed to the virus. The CDC, WHO and the CSSE are also reporting 4,853,117,090 vaccine doses have been administered.

Jason Jones may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].