THHS Reported Significant Changes In COVID-19 Cases, Deaths At Sulphur Springs Nursing Homes
COVID-19 case counts continue to rise Wednesday and Thursday, according to local and state reports. Hopkins County/Sulphur Springs Emergency Management officials reported 8 new cases and the Local Health Authority reported a 4 percent increase in cumulative COVID-19 cases among adults age 61 over the last 2 weeks on Oct. 14. Three additional Hopkins County residents had tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 15, HC/SSEM officials reported.
State officials on Oct. 14 also reported 1 additional death of a Hopkins County resident from COVID-19 as well as significant changes in COVID-19 cases at local nursing homes, including deaths.
DSHS Death Reports
Texas Department of State Health Services On Oct. 14 reported another Hopkins County resident was confirmed by death certificate to have died as a result of COVID-19 on Oct. 9, increasing the number of COVID-19 deaths reported to have occurred in October. Two Hopkins County residents died on Oct. 5 and one on Oct. 8, according to the DSHS Oct. 14-15 County Trends reports.
That makes 21 Hopkins County residents confirmed by death certificate to have died as a result of COVID-19 since July. There were no additional deaths reported for Hopkins County on Oct. 15, according to DSHS reports.
HHS Nursing, Assisted Living Reports
The Oct. 14 Texas Health and Human Services nursing facility report attributed 9 deaths at local nursing homes to COVID-19, and reported 13 new employee cases and 19 active resident cases of novel coronavirus 2019 at Sulphur Springs nursing homes on Sept. 30. There were no changes in the number of COVID-19 cases and fatalities reported at local nursing facilities on Oct. 15.
While the number of active cases among residents of Carriage House Manor decreased from 27 to 18 on Sept. 30, an additional 4 residents had died as a result of COVID-1. That increased the number facility residents of COVID-19 deaths at the facility to 8 as of Sept. 30, according to the Oct. 14 and 15 HHS nursing facility reports.
Texas Health and Human Services on Oct. 14 also reported 13 additional employees of Carriage House Manor had tested positive for COVID-19 on Sept. 30. That makes 38 CHM employees who have tested positive for COVID-19 since March, according to the Oct. 14-15 HHS reports. That’s just 1 shy of the total number of Hopkins County residents DSHS has reported have been confirmed by death certificate to have died in September.
Sulphur Springs Health and Rehabilitation was reported for the first time to not only have resident COVID-19 cases on Sept. 30, but one of the two residents had died from the virus. The other case remained active on Oct. 1, according to the HHS Oct. 14 and 15 nursing facility reports.
The only active case at Sulphur Springs assisted living facilities as Oct. 1 continued to be a Wesley House employee, according to the Oct. 15 HHS reports.
There were no active cases of COVID-19 at licensed child care centers in Hopkins County on either Oct. 13 or Oct. 14, according to the Oct. 14-15 HHS child care report.
LHA Age Range Report
The largest rise in cumulative COVID-19 cases among all Hopkins County residents over the last 2 weeks was in residents ages 61 and older. On Oct. 14, residents age 61 and older accounted for 31 percent of the cumulative COVID-19 cases, the most by any group since the Local Health Authority and HC/SSEM began reporting statistics by age on Sept. 1. That’s a 4 percent increase in the last 2 weeks and a 9 percent increase in the last month.
Young people ages 11-20 accounted for another 15 percent of the Hopkins County resident who have tested positive for COVID-19 since March, the same as on Sept. 30, 5 percent more on Sept. 1 and 3 percent more than on Sept. 14.
Residents ages 41-50 accounted have continued to account for 13 percent of Hopkins COVID-19 patients since Sept. 14, and is 1 percent less than the Sept. 1 report.
Hopkins County residents ages 1-10 accounted for 4 percent of the cumulative COVID-19 patients on Oct. 14, ages 21-30 for 11 percent, ages 31-40 14 percent, ages 51-60 for 12 percent; each of these age groups declined 1 percent each from the Sept. 30 report period to the Oct. 14 report period. Since Sept. 1, that’s a 2 percent drop for ages 1-10, 3 percent drop for ages 21-30, 3 percent drop for ages 21-30, 5 percent drop for ages 31-40, 1 percent drop for 41-50 years and 3 percent drop for 51-60.
HC/SSEM Oct. 14-15 Reports
Hopkins County Sulphur Springs Emergency Management officials reported 8 new COVID-19 cases on Oct. 14 and 3 new cases on Oct.15, increasing the active case county to 111 and the weekly case county so far to 52. That brings the total number of Hopkins County residents who have tested positive with COVID-19 from Oct. 1-15 to 103, just 15 cases shy of September’s 30-day total and 2 more than last week’s positive antigen test total. The new cases on Oct. 14 and make 464 Hopkins County residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 since March.
There were no new recoveries reported on either Oct. 14 or Oct. 15 for Hopkins County, so the weekly total remains 30. There have been 70 Hopkins County residents who have recovered from the virus so far this month and 353 since March.
One additional patient was reported to be in the COVID-19 Unit at CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital-Sulphur Springs on Thursday, according to the Oct. 15 Hopkins County COVID-19 update. That’s 3 days in a row that the patient count has risen by 1, from 5 on Oct. 12 to 8 on Oct. 15.
Testing at the free testing site at 128-A Jefferson Street slowed a little on Tuesday and Wednesday, with 93 tests performed each day, 39 fewer than on Oct. 12, according to HC/SSEM reports.
Free testing continues to be offered from starting at 9 a.m. until at least 6 p.m. weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. To register go online to GoGetTested.com, scroll down to the “Sulphur Springs — Red Cross/Old Fidelity Express — Texas Emergency Management” testing site (they are usually listed alphabetically), click the green “Book It” button and follow the prompts.
