COVID-19 Case Numbers Down, Death Toll Continues to Climb

Update Sept. 24

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

EAST TEXAS In an article published by the Texas Tribune on Friday, Sept. 24 it was stated, “Just over 50 percent of the Texas population is fully vaccinated. Health officials say that the state’s high rate of unvaccinated people contributed to a surge in hospitalizations last month, which preceded the spike in deaths that soon followed.”

Furthermore, the article indicated, “Of the nearly 19,000 Texas deaths attributed to COVID-19 since early February, 119 were fully vaccinated according to preliminary data from the state health department.”

Across the Lone Star State, the Texas Department of State Health Services (TxDSHS) reported another 8,072 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 along with 463 related fatalities, on Thursday, Sept. 23.

In addition, the TxDSHS indicated on Sept. 23, there were 183 estimated, active cases in Houston County with approximately 2,446 people who have recovered. There have also been 74 reported deaths. Last week, there were 198 active cases and 68 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, Sept. 23 the county had a total of 1,121 active cases. There have also been 4,024 recoveries and 94 reported deaths. Last week, there were 1,108 active cases and 91 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 Sept. 16 showed: Angelina – 1,135 active cases and 350 fatalities, last week there were 1,534 active cases with 334 fatalities; Cherokee – 219 active cases and 179 fatalities, last week there were 274 active cases with 170 fatalities; Freestone –171 active cases and 60 fatalities, last week there were 223 active cases with 58 fatalities; Henderson – 1,573 active cases and 289 fatalities, last week there were 1,565 active cases with 267 fatalities; Leon – 185 active cases and 59 fatalities, last week there were 250 active cases with 53 fatalities; Madison – 83 active cases and 40 fatalities, last week there were 115 active cases with 40 fatalities; Trinity – 126 active cases and 48 fatalities, last week there were 165 active cases with 45 fatalities; and Walker – 294 active case and 160 fatalities, last week there were 427 active cases with 154 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 Sept. 23, 2021, over 3.31 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been reported in Texas while 62,033 (last week 59,980) Texans had suffered a COVID-19 related death. Furthermore, 254 out of 254 – or 100% of counties in the state of Texas – now have at least one active case of COVID-19.

The Sept. 23 update showed a total of 41,209,750 Coronavirus tests had been administered in Texas with 11,113 current hospitalizations, down from 12,597 last week. In addition, the TxDSHS reported 3,575,631 recoveries. There have also been 32,007,401 vaccine doses given in Texas.

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 Sept. 23, the positivity rate was 15.42 %, up slightly from last week when the rate stood at 15.32%.

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 Sept. 24, across the US there have been 42,688,225 confirmed cases of COVID-19 – an increase of 877,838 from a week ago.

The CSSE further reported there were 684,613 US residents who had suffered a COVID-19 related death as of Sept. 24 – an increase of 14,166 fatalities from a week ago. So far in the US, 386,439,616 vaccine doses have been administered.

Worldwide, on Sept. 24, as of 10:21 am, there have been 230,768,087 (last week – 227,248,986) confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 4,731,671 (last week – 4,673,732) deaths attributed to the virus. The CDC, WHO and the CSSE are also reporting 6,040,255,595 vaccine doses have been administered.

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