Hopkins County/Sulphur Springs Emergency Management officials in the Nov. 23 COVID-19 update reported a whopping 22 patients in the COVID unit at the hospital and a change in state COVID-19 case reporting.
Texas Department of State Health Services, as of Sunday, Nov. 22, will no long be providing daily updates to county officials, HC/SSEM reported in the Nov. 23 COVID-19 update. No new positive cases nor new recoveries were noted by HC/SSEM. Thus, the case counts reported Nov. 23 by HC/SSEM were the same as reported on Friday: 779 cumulative cases, 622 recoveries and 157 active case.
On the daily COVID-19 dashboard posted by DSHS at 3:35 p.m. Nov. 23, very few counties showed any changes in new case counts. The Texas COVID-19 New Confirmed Cases By County report showed no new cases for Hopkins County on Monday, but eight new cases over the weekend — three on Saturday and five on Sunday. That, according to DSHS, increases the cumulative COVID-19 case count for Hopkins County since March to be 798. The total equals an average of 21.54 cases per 1,000 people in Hopkins County, according to the DSHS Nov. 23 County Trends report.
The DSHS Fatalities over Time by County report shows no update since Nov. 22. At that time, the fatality count continued to be the 51 COVID-19 deaths reported for Hopkins County on Nov. 21.
The DSHS COVID-19 “Estimated Recoveries by County dashboard on Nov. 23 showed 691 COVID-19 recoveries for Hopkins County, 69 more than were last reported by HC/SSEM on Friday.
The active case count reported by DSHS on Nov. 23 for Hopkins County was 56 for Nov. 22-23.
Another 120 COVID-19 tests were performed Saturday, Nov. 21, at the testing site at 128-A Jefferson St. in Sulphur Springs. That makes 534 free molecular COVID-19 tests conducted at the location in the last week and 1,593 this month. Overall, that makes 3.986 tests conducted since the site opened on Sept. 25, HC/SSEM reported in the Nov. 23 COVID-19 update.
Molecular testing will continue to be offered from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays-Fridays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays in November. Register online at www.GoGetTested.com for the oral swab test.
Hospital Reports
Hopkins County/Sulphur Springs Emergency Management officials in their Nov. 23 COVID-19 update did report a patient count of 22 in the COVID Unit at CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital-Sulphur Springs on Nov. 23.
The patient count in the COVID unit at CMFH-SS has remained 10 or above since Oct. 26, and has so far this month has not been less than 13 patients. Monday’s patient count sets a new record since the HC/SSEM has been reporting hospital COIVD unit statistics in August. The numbers have continued to rise over from 15 on Nov. 17 to 17 on Nov. 18 and 19, 19 patients on Nov. 20 and 22 patients Monday.
In Trauma Service Area F, which includes hospital from Texarkana to Hopkins County, there were 1,042 staffed hospital beds and 950 total staffed inpatient beds on Monday, which is less than the last 4 week days.
DSHS also reported there were 602 total hospitalizations, including 142 lab-confirmed COVID-19 patients in hospitals in Area F on Nov. 23. COVID-19 hospitalizations account for 13.64 percent of all hospitalizations out of the total hospital capacity in TSA Area F, which remains below the 15 percent threshold which the state considers high hospitalizations if a TSA exceeds for 7 consecutive days, per Executive Order GA-32.
That leaves available throughout Area F as of the DSHS report at 3:40 p.m. Monday 348 hospital beds, 11 ICU beds and 75 ventilators, according to the DSHS data.
Across the state, there were 8,353 lab-confirmed COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals as of the Nov. 23 report.
Trauma Service Area F
CategoriesNov. 17, 2020 Counts Nov. 18, 2020 Counts Nov. 19, 2020
CountsNov. 20, 2020 Counts Nov. 23, 2020
CountsPopulation Estimate 2020 273,329 273,329 273,329 273,329 273,329 Total Staffed Hospital Beds 1,057 1,075 1,110 1,111 1,041 Available Hospital Beds 364 364 375 387 348 Available ICU Beds 11 9 9 14 11 Available Ventilators 75 74 75 76 75 Lab-Confirmed COVID-19 Patients in Hospital 139 138 149 148 142 Total Staffed Inpatient Beds 966 984 1,019 1,020 950
HHS COVID-19 Reports
Very little change was reported at Sulphur Springs nursing facilities from Nov. 6 to Nov. 9, the most recent COVID-19 data available from Texas Health and Human Services for nursing facilities. The only active employee COVID-19 case reported Nov. 6 at Sunny Springs Nursing & Rehab had recovered from the virus on Nov. 9, according to the Nov. 23 HHS nursing facility report.
Carriage House continued to have 1 active employee case and two active resident COVID-19 cases on Nov. 9. Rock Creek Health and Rehabilitation reported 1 resident still had COVID-19 on Nov. 9. Sulphur Springs Health and Rehabilitation reported 14 employees and 13 resident still had the virus on Nov. 9, according to the Nov. 23 HHS nursing facility report.
Wesley House reported that one employee had tested positive for COVID-19 and actively had the virus on Nov. 9, HHS reported in the Nov. 23 assisted living facility report.
There were no active cases of COVID-19 in students or staff reported by the six licensed child care centers, school-age programs, and before- or after-school programs in Sulphur Springs on Nov. 20, according to the Nov. 23 HHS report.
