Light at the End of the COVID-19 Tunnel?

Update Feb. 11

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

EAST TEXAS – There may be some light at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic tunnel according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Biden administration’s chief medical advisor.

In a Feb. 9 article written by Chloe Folmar and published on the website, www.thehill.com, it was reported, “The U.S. is exiting the ‘full-blown’ pandemic phase of the years-long COVID-19 crisis that began in 2020.”

“As we get out of the full-blown pandemic phase of COVID-19, which we are certainly heading out of, these decisions will increasingly be made on a local level rather than centrally decided or mandated. There will also be more people making their own decisions on how they want to deal with the virus,” Dr. Fauci said.

Across the state of Texas, the Texas Department of State Health Services (TxDSHS) reported 11,643 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 along with 305 related fatalities, on Thursday, Feb. 10.

So far in 2022, the TxDSHS indicated on Feb. 10, there were 411 confirmed cases in Houston County with approximately 3,015 people who have recovered. There have also been 98 reported deaths since the pandemic began in 2020. On Feb. 3, there were 386 active cases and 98 deaths.

The first cases of COVID-19 were reported in Houston County on April 17, 2020, when it was learned three individuals had tested positive for the virus.

Meanwhile, in Anderson County, it was announced on Thursday, Feb. 10 the county had a total of 1,676 active cases. There have also been 5,782 recoveries and 117 reported deaths. On Jan. 27, there were 1,198 active cases and 115 deaths.

On Tuesday, March 31, 2020, it was reported Anderson County had its first confirmed case of the virus.

The number of 2022 confirmed cases and cumulative (2020-2022) fatalities per county – for those counties surrounding Houston and Anderson Counties – as of Feb. 10 showed: Angelina – 1,525 confirmed cases and 456 fatalities, on Feb. 3 there were 1,407 confirmed cases with 445 fatalities; Cherokee – 868 confirmed cases and 238 fatalities, on Feb. 3 there were 786 confirmed cases with 234 fatalities; Freestone – 382 confirmed cases and 81 fatalities, on Feb. 3 there were 362 confirmed cases with 80 fatalities; Henderson – 5,329 confirmed cases and 387 fatalities, on Feb. 3 there were 4,759 confirmed cases with 379 fatalities; Leon – 445 confirmed cases and 81 fatalities, on Feb. 3 there were 406 confirmed cases with 80 fatalities; Madison – 355 confirmed cases and 50 fatalities, on Feb. 3 there were 324 confirmed cases with 49 fatalities; Trinity –362 confirmed cases and 69 fatalities, on Feb. 3 there were 342 confirmed cases with 67 fatalities; and Walker – 3,893 confirmed cases and 200 fatalities, on Feb. 3 there were 3,699 confirmed cases with 199 fatalities.

The Messenger first started tracking the spread of the virus in the East Texas area on Wednesday, March 25, 2020. 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 Feb. 10, 2022, over 5.34 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been reported in Texas while 80,310 (on Feb. 3 – 78,981) 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 Feb. 10 update showed a total of 58,522,222 Coronavirus tests had been administered in Texas with 8,943 current hospitalizations, down from 11,673 on Feb. 3. There have also been 43,583,394.00 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 Feb. 10 the positivity rate was 17.85%, down significantly from Feb. 3 when the rate stood at 25.59%.

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. 11, across the US there have been 77,501,686 confirmed cases of COVID-19 – an increase of 1,504,563 from Feb. 4.

The CSSE further reported there were 916,440 US residents who had suffered a COVID-19 related death as of Feb. 11 – an increase of 19,040 fatalities from Feb. 4. So far in the US, 542,768,948 vaccine doses have been administered.

Worldwide, on Feb. 11, as of 12:21 pm, there have been 407,446,539 (on Feb. 4 – 388,883,686) confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 5,795,805 (on Feb. 4 – 5,715,562) deaths attributed to the virus. The CDC, WHO and the CSSE are also reporting 10,166,187,078 vaccine doses have been administered.

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