While Texas Department of State Health Services’ Dec. 5 COVID-19 update showed two additional COVID-19 recoveries and no additional COVID-19 fatalities on Saturday, four times as many Hopkins County residents received positive COVID-19 results on Saturday than the 5 new cases reported on Friday, which resulted in a higher active case count as well.
On Saturday, the DSHS COVID-19 Case Counts dashboard showed 913 Hopkins County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 since March, That means 20 additional Hopkins County residents had received positive COVID-19 results on Saturday. That gives Hopkins County a positivity rate to 2.46 percent, as of the DSHS Dec. 5 COVID-19 update.
That also means that recoveries currently outpaced new cases in Hopkins County this week. Since Nov. 30, there have been 82 new COVID-19 cases diagnosed by molecular lab tests and 84 recoveries. Two new recoveries were reported on both Friday and Saturday, and 80 on Wednesday. That’s more recoveries this week, and this Monday, than during the entire month of November and just three shy of September’s recovery count, according to DSHS reports.
The active case count increased again from 61 Friday to 79 active on Saturday. The week started with 90 active case on both Monday and Tuesday, then dipped to 19 on Wednesday, thanks to the 80 new recoveries, and shot back up to 63 active cases on Thursday due to the 44 new cases reported.
COVID-19 Fatalities
The Dec. 5 COVID-19 fatality dashboard showed 56 Hopkins County residents have been confirmed by death certificate to have died from COVID-19. That means no new confirmed COVID-19 deaths were reported for Hopkins County on Saturday.
COVID-19 deaths were confirmed in two of the eight counties immediately surrounding Hopkins, however.
Two additional Hunt County residents were confirmed Saturday to have died from COVID-19, for a cumulative total of 64 fatalities; the COVID-19 case county for Hunt County was 1908 on Saturday, 27 more than on Friday.
One additional Wood County death and 19 new cases were was confirmed Saturday. That makes 934 cumulative COIVD-19 cases, including 54 which resulted in death.
Trauma Service Area F Hospital Reports
The percent of COVID-19 hospitalizations out of the total hospital capacity in Trauma Service Area F dipped very slightly Saturday. In fact, Dec. 5 marks the fourth consecutive day the overall percent of COVID-19 hospitalization has declined this week, from 16.4 percent on Dec. 1 to 16.32 percent on Dec. 2, 13.79 percent Dec. 3, 13.58 percent Dec. 4 and 13.57 percent Dec. 5, according to the DSHS Dec. 5 COVID-19 Case Count Hospital Data dashboard
The last COVID-19 hospitalization total in TSA F for the last three days has been a welcome change from the previous 5 days in which the COVID-19 hospitalization percent of total hospital capacity exceeded the 15 percent threshold the state considers to be high capacity. State officials monitor TSAs to determine if additional measures will be implemented to help slow the spread of the virus. TSAs in which COVID hospitalizations exceed the 15 percent total capacity for seven consecutive days are required to reduce business capacities in those counties from 75 to 50 percent and in some cases could mean the business has to close until the TSA goes 7 consecutive days with COVID-19 hospitalizations accounting for less than 15 percent of total hospital capacities in the TSA.
On Dec. 5, there were 1,076 total staffed hospital beds, 364 available hospital beds, eight available ICU beds, 61 available ventilators, 146 lab-confirmed COVID-19 patients, 985 total staffed inpatient beds and 621 total hospitalizations in Trauma Service Area F, according to the Dec. 5 COVID-19 regional hospital reports.
Categories/ Counts Dec. 4 Dec. 5 Total Staffed Hospital Beds 1075 1076 Available Hospital Beds 352 364 Available ICU Beds 6 8 Available Ventilators 61 61 Lab-Confirmed COVID-19 Patients in Hospital 146 146 Total Hospitalizations 632 621 Total Staffed Inpatient Beds 984 985
