Good News on COVID-19 Front 

Update April 8

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

EAST TEXAS – There is good news on the COVID-19 front. According to an article from Axios, “Half of the states are seeing COVID case numbers rise again while nationwide totals continue to fall. Overall, cases dropped 5% across the U.S. to an average of about 28,700 cases from an average of more than 30,000 cases two weeks ago. Deaths fell to an average of 600 a day, down 34% from just over 900 a day two weeks ago.”

The article also reported three states — Alaska, Vermont and Rhode Island — had more than 20 new cases per 100,000 people. On the other hand, nine states — Utah, Montana, South Dakota, Kansas, Louisiana, Iowa, Arkansas, Indiana and Tennessee — had three or fewer new cases per 100,000 people.

Across the state of Texas, the Texas Department of State Health Services (TxDSHS) reported 839 (on Thursday, March 24 there were 969) newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 along with 8 (on Thursday, March 24 there were 61) related fatalities, on Friday, April 8.

So far in 2022, the TxDSHS indicated on April 8, there have been 480 confirmed cases in Houston County. There have also been 109 reported deaths since the pandemic began in 2020. On March 24, there were 472 confirmed cases and 107 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, April 7 the county had a total of 38 active cases. There have also been 7,807 recoveries and 119 reported deaths. On March 24, there were 120 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 April 8 showed: Angelina – 1637 confirmed cases and 480 fatalities, on March 24 there were 1,630 confirmed cases with 480 fatalities; Cherokee – 956 confirmed cases and 253 fatalities, on March 24 there were 946 confirmed cases with 253 fatalities; Freestone – 439 confirmed cases and 82 fatalities, on March 24 there were 430 confirmed cases with 82 fatalities; Henderson – 5,657 confirmed cases and 424 fatalities, on March 24 there were 5,638 confirmed cases with 421 fatalities; Leon – 507 confirmed cases and 93 fatalities, on March 24 there were 501 confirmed cases with 93 fatalities; Madison – 402 confirmed cases and 54 fatalities, on March 24 there were 400 confirmed cases with 53 fatalities; Trinity – 429 confirmed cases and 72 fatalities, on March 24 there were 413 confirmed cases with 72 fatalities; and Walker – 4,299 confirmed cases and 211 fatalities, on March 24 there were 4,254 confirmed cases with 211 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 April 8, 2022, over 5.51 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been reported in Texas while 85,702 (on March 24 – 86,181) 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 April 8 update showed a total of 63,071,860 Coronavirus tests had been administered in Texas with 920 current hospitalizations, down from 1,352 on March 24. There have also been 45,552,765 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 April 8, the positivity rate was 3.43%, up from March 24, when the rate stood at 2.47%.

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 April 8, across the US there have been 80,313,215 confirmed cases of COVID-19 – an increase of 419,200 from March 25.

The CSSE further reported there were 984,858 US residents who had suffered a COVID-19 related death as of April 8 – an increase of 8,785 fatalities from March 25. So far in the US, 562,332,263 vaccine doses have been administered.

Worldwide, on April 8, as of 2:20 pm, there have been 496,870,242 (on March 25 – 477,751,822) confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 6,172,774 (on March 25 – 6,111,844) deaths attributed to the virus. The CDC, WHO and the CSSE are also reporting 11,088,899,650 vaccine doses have been administered.

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