Although Hopkins County has had no new lab-confirmed positive cases in 24 days, Texas Department of State Health Services will be offering free mobile screenings to the public Thursday in Sulphur Springs and in Cooper by Texas Department of State Health Services, according to Hopkins County Hospital District COO/EMS Director Brent Smith’s COVID-19 testing update and Hopkins County Emergency Management Team reports.
Free COVID-19 Screenings
The free drive-through screenings are offered to the public April 28 “to help provide surveillance around the state so that our officials can make informed decisions in reference to getting our communities and economy open again.”
In Sulphur Springs, screenings will be conducted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Hopkins County Civic Center. The City of Cooper will also hold testing at Cooper Elementary School Thursday. Registration is required. Call 512-883-2400 to register for the screening. Registration for the drive-thru testing will being at 8 a.m. Wednesday, April 29. When registering, people may request either location, according to Smith.
Callers will be asked will be asked some very simple brief questions about any symptoms. Those who work in the fields of healthcare, public safety or critical infrastructure will automatically be accepted for the testing even if they have no symptoms.
“Please take this opportunity to test if you feel that you may have come in contact with someone or feel you have symptoms.
Hopkins County Testing Update
There continue to be only four lab-confirmed positive COVID-19 in people with Hopkins County addresses in the 43 days that HCHD/EMS has been receiving testing updates from the majority of healthcare providers in Hopkins County. The last confirmed case was reported on April 4. That’s 24 days without any new lab-confirmed positive COVID-19 cases for Hopkins County.
And, all four of the COVID-19 patients are reported to have recovered from the virus, according to information provided HCHD/EMS and the HCEMT. The last of the four patients battling COVID-19 was reported April 22 to have recovered, according to officials.
In the last six days 37 additional tests have come back negative, for a total of 174 lab-confirmed negative tests as of the last report on April 28.
Three tests were pending at the 4 p.m. reporting time, two fewer than one week ago. Overall, 181 potential cases met testing criteria put in place by DSHS and the Centers for Disease Control for screening.
HOPKINS COUNTY COVID-19 TESTING TOTALS AS OF: 3/21 3/27 3/30 4/02 4/06 4/10 4/15 4/20 4/22 4/28 Total Confirmed Positive Cases 0 1 2 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 Total Confirmed Negative Tests NA NA 16 41 65 97 115 130 137 174 Total Pending Cases NA NA 44 32 20 13 7 7 8 3 Total Screenings Sent for Testing 31 53 62 76 89 114 126 141 149 181 Total Confirmed COVID-19 Patients who Have Recovered 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 3 4 4 COVID-Related Deaths 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Texas Testing Update
Overall, 207 of Texas’ 254 counties have reported positive cases of COVID-19, which is 7 more counties reporting cases than reported on April 22. All counties in Northeast Texas had reported cases by April 20.
Some areas of Northeast Texas are doing better than others as far cases reported. Delta, Red River and Franklin Counties each still had only one-confirmed COVID-19 case as of the April 28 DSHS report. Rains County only had two cases, Hopkins County four cases, Morris County five cases, Camp County six cases, Wood County seven cases, Marion County nine cases, Cass and Upshur Counties 13 cases, Van Zandt County 14, Titus County 15, Fannin County 17 cases, Hunt 44, Lamar County jumped to 51 cases due to an outbreak at a nursing home over the weekend, Rockwall County 58, Gregg County 69, Bowie County 69, Kaufman County 74, Smith County 139 and Harrison County 84.
In and around the Metroplex area, Johnson County had 62 cases, Ellis County 133, Collin County was up to 676 cases, Denton County 725. Tarrant County’s 2019 cases and Dallas County’s 3105 cases falls just shy of Harris County’s 5,827 cases for as the leader in COVID-19 cases in the state.
An additional 147 COVID-19 deaths were reported in Texas in the last six days, for a total of 690 fatalities reported to DSHS and HHS, as of the April 28 report. Overall, 84 of the 254 counties in Texas have reported COVID-19 fatalities, eight more counties than just 6 days ago. In Northeast Texas, Harrison, Van Zandt, Rockwall and Bowie Counties have each reported one COVID-19 fatality. Hunt County reported two COVID-19 deaths and Smith County three.
However, an estimated 4,445 additional Texas patients have recovered from COVID-19 in the last six days, increasing the total number of Texas recoveries to 11,786 as of the April 28 report.
Throughout the state, 83,601 additional COVID 19 screenings have been sent for testing over the past six days, up to 300,384 total screenings for Texas as of the noon DSHS/HHS report on April 28.
An additional 5,102 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed throughout the state during the past six days, with only 874 new cases in the last 24-hours of the reporting period. That brings the total of Texas confirmed positive COVID-19 cases to 26,171.
Demographically, 30.4 percent of Texas COVID-19 patients are Hispanic, 29.9 percent are white, 17.2 percent Black, 3.9 percent Asian and 0.7 percent are considered “other.” The race or ethnicity of the other 17.9 percent of patients is “unknown.” By gender, 48.4 percent of COVID-19 patients in Texas are female and 47.7 percent male, and 3.9 percent are pending further information.
The number of lab-confirmed COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals increased by four patients over the last six days to 1,682 in the hospital for COVID-19 as of the April 28 report. Throughout Trauma Service Area F, within which Sulphur Springs is located, 18 COVID-19 patients were reported to be in regional hospitals, one fewer than six days ago, according to the state report.
TEXAS Reports (DSHS/HHS) April 10, 2020 April 15, 2020 April 20, 2020 April 22, 2020 April 28, 2020 Total tests 115,918 151,810 190,394 216,783 300,384 Cases reported 11,671 15,492 19,458 21,069 26,171 Lab Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently In Texas Hospitals 1,532 1,538 1,411 1,678 1,682 Estimated Number of Patients Recovered 1,366 3,150 5,706 7,341 11,786 Fatalities 226 364 495 543 690
While the number of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases remains small, only four confirmed cases during the 43 days, HCHD/EMS remind everyone to continue practicing social distancing and proper hand-washing techniques. Doing so will help keep the Hopkins County positive number low by helping to reduce the potential spread of COVID-19 through the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
