COVID-19 Cases Down, Deaths Up

Update Feb. 25

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

EAST TEXAS – The number of new COVID-19 cases continues to decline but unfortunately, the number of COVID-19 related deaths continues to climb.

According to a CNN article published on Feb. 24, “Plummeting Covid-19 case counts across the United States are leading to lifted mask mandates and more conversations about steps toward normalcy — but more people are dying of the coronavirus now than during most points of the pandemic.”

More than 2,000 Covid-19 deaths have been reported in the United States each day for the past month, the article reported.

“Average daily deaths are falling, but from a very high point,” the article continued. “They dipped just below that mark in recent days, to about 1,900 on Monday; the federal holiday may have delayed reporting. Before Omicron became the dominant coronavirus strain in the US, there were only about 100 other days when there were more than 2,000 Covid-19 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The only other time that deaths have been this high for this long was during the first winter surge, before vaccines were available.”

Across the state of Texas, the Texas Department of State Health Services (TxDSHS) reported 3,805 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 along with 234 related fatalities, on Thursday, Feb. 24.

So far in 2022, the TxDSHS indicated on Feb. 24, there have been 429 confirmed cases in Houston County. There have also been 105 reported deaths since the pandemic began in 2020. On Feb. 17, there were 417 confirmed cases and 101 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. 24 the county had a total of 1,047 active cases. There have also been 6,665 recoveries and 117 reported deaths. On Feb. 17, there were 1,382 active cases and 117 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. 24 showed: Angelina – 1,593 confirmed cases and 464 fatalities, on Feb. 17 there were 1,577 confirmed cases with 459 fatalities; Cherokee – 928 confirmed cases and 246 fatalities, on Feb. 17 there were 910 confirmed cases with 243 fatalities; Freestone – 407 confirmed cases and 82 fatalities, on Feb. 17 there were 402 confirmed cases with 81 fatalities; Henderson – 5,578 confirmed cases and 404 fatalities, on Feb. 17 there were 5,520 confirmed cases with 396 fatalities; Leon – 477 confirmed cases and 88 fatalities, on Feb. 17 there were 464 confirmed cases with 86 fatalities; Madison – 385 confirmed cases and 51 fatalities, on Feb. 17 there were 376 confirmed cases with 50 fatalities; Trinity – 385 confirmed cases and 71 fatalities, on Feb. 17 there were 373 confirmed cases with 70 fatalities; and Walker – 4,158 confirmed cases and 205 fatalities, on Feb. 17 there were 4,108 confirmed cases with 203 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. 24, 2022, over 5.42 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been reported in Texas while 83,121 (on Feb. 17 – 81,844) 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. 24 update showed a total of 59,900,994 Coronavirus tests had been administered in Texas with 4,474 current hospitalizations, down from 6,470 on Feb. 17. There have also been 44,254,223.00 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. 24, the positivity rate was 7.1%, down significantly from Feb. 17, when the rate stood at 11.5%.

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. 25, across the US there have been 78,804,479 78,287,928 confirmed cases of COVID-19 – an increase of 516,551 from Feb. 18.

The CSSE further reported there were 945,032 US residents who had suffered a COVID-19 related death as of Feb. 25 – an increase of 12,875 fatalities from Feb. 18. So far in the US, 549,992,747 vaccine doses have been administered.

Worldwide, on Feb. 25, as of 10:21 am, there have been 432,005,617 (on Feb. 18 – 420,778,073) confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 5,931,664 (on Feb. 18 – 5,867,844) deaths attributed to the virus. The CDC, WHO and the CSSE are also reporting 10,459,647,609 vaccine doses have been administered.

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