While twice as many new COVID-19 cases were reported on Saturday than on Friday, 80 additional recoveries were reported in the Texas Department of State Health Services Jan. 16 COVID-19 Texas Case Counts dashboard. The COVID-19 Vaccine dashboard shows 130 additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in Hopkins County as of 11:59 p.m. Jan. 15, while the Test and Hospital Data dashboard showed a slight increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations in Trauma Service Area F on Friday.
Case Counts
The DSHS Jan. 16 COVID-19 Case Counts dashboard showed 84 COVID-19 fatalities for Hopkins County, which means one more Hopkins County resident had been confirmed on Jan. 16 to have died from the novel coronavirus 2019. The death occurred on Dec. 28, according to the DSHS Jan. 16 COVID-19 Fatalities over Time by County report. That’s a fatality rate of 3.36 percent among COVID-19 infected Hopkins County residents.
That makes 22 Hopkins County residents whose deaths have been confirmed with COVID-19 listed as cause on their death certificates to have occurred in December. Four additional COVID-19 deaths have been reported already this month for Hopkins County.
Ten additional Hopkins County residents had received positive COVID-19 results from lab-confirmed molecular tests by 4 p.m. Jan. 16, which makes 72 new confirmed COVID-19 cases this week and 167 confirmed new cases during the first 16 days of 2021. Cumulatively, since the pandemic began in Texas in March 2020, 1,289 Hopkins County residents have received confirmed COVID-19 test results.
Seven additional probable COVID-19 cases were also reported on Jan. 16 for Hopkins County. That’s seven additional Hopkins County residents who either tested COVID-19 positive through an antigen test or has a combination of symptoms and a known exposure to someone with COVID-19 without a more likely diagnosis. That makes 24 new probable cases reported this week and 92 additional probable cases recorded this month. Cumulatively, since the state began tracking probable COVID-19 cases, 1,209 probable cases have been reported for Hopkins County.
Combined, that’s 2,498 COVID-19 cases reported for Hopkins County, which is roughly 6.7r percent of the Hopkins County population. Of those, a total of 2,243 have recovered from the virus. On Saturday, 80 Hopkins County residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, that’s the most recoveries in single day in a month. Last month, 186 recoveries were reported on Dec. 15 and 810 on Dec. 11. The latter number, however, includes all probable case recoveries which had not previously been counted in the officials recovery counts along with those COVID-19 cases confirmed by molecular test.
That leaves 171 Hopkins County residents who actively have COVID-19 on Saturday, Jan. 16, down from 234 active cases on Jan. 15, and 239 on Jan. 12 and Jan. 13.
Hospital Data
The DSHS Jan. 16 COVID-19 Test and Hospital Data dashboard showed a slight increase in not only COVID-19 hospitalizations but al hospitalizations in Trauma Service Area F on Jan. 15. On Friday, there were 221 lab-confirmed COVID-19 patients in TSA-F hospitals, which is one more than on Thursday, but still 11 less than on Wednesday, and 20 less than on Monday.
COVID-19 hospitalizations made up 20.69 percent of the total hospital capacity in TSA-F on Jan. 15, an 0.05 percent increase from Thursday, but still 1.38 percent less than on Jan. 13 and 2.73 percent less than on Jan. 11.
A total of 1,068 hospital beds were staffed in TSA-F on Jan. 15, two more than on Jan. 14, but still 20 less than on Jan. 5 and 67 less than on Dec. 31. There were 655 total hospitalizations in TSA-F on Jan. 15, three fewer than on Jan. 1 and 62 less than on Dec. 31, but six more than on Jan. 12. A total of 976 inpatient beds were staffed in TSA-F on Friday, two more than on Thursday, but 17 more than on Wednesday and 67 less than on Dec. 31.
Nine ICU beds were available in TSA-F hospitals, two les than on Thursday and three less than on Wednesday, but eight more than on Jan. 2 and Jan. 3. Seventy ventilators were available in TSA-F on Jan. 15, six more than on Jan. 14, but seven less than on Jan. 12. Also, a total of 321 hospital beds were available across TSA-F on Friday, five more than n Thursday and 11 more than on Wednesday, but 30 less than on Jan. 3 and 107 less than on Dec. 26.
Testing Data
DSHS has been notified of 16,052 COVID-19 tests performed in Hopkins County during the pandemic, 12,932 viral or molecular tests, 1,423 antigen tests and 1,697 antibody tests. That’s 64 additional viral tests, most likely from the free testing site at 128-A Jefferson Street in Sulphur Springs, where 8,055 tests had been performed from the time the site opened on Sept. 25 to 6 p.m. Jan. 14. Thirteen additional antigen tests and three additional antibody tests were also conducted in Hopkins County on Friday, according to the DSHS Jan. 16 COVID-19 Test and Hospital Data dashboard.
Free oral swab (molecular) COVID-19 testing will continue to be offered from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays in January inside the Red Cross (old Fidelity Express Building) in Sulphur Springs. Free testing is open to anyone regardless of age or address. Registration is required online at www.GoGetTested.com in order to be tested at 128-A Jefferson Street in Sulphur Springs.
COVID-19 Vaccine
Of the 1,200 doses of COVID-19 vaccine allocated over the last 5 weeks to Hopkins County, 1,159 doses had been administered as of 11:59 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15. CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic-Sulphur Springs is among 260 providers (79 hubs and 181 small providers) allocated vaccines during the week of Jan. 18. The clinic has been designated 700 doses of the vaccine, according to a DSHS release Saturday afternoon, Jan. 16.
As of Friday night, 1,064 people had received the first dose of the vaccine in Hopkins County and 95 had received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. That means 51 additional people received the first dose of the vaccine in Hopkins County while 79 more received the second dose to complete the vaccination process.
Vaccine remains limited based on the capacity of the manufacturers to produce it, so it will take time for Texas to receive enough vaccine for all the people in the priority populations who want to be vaccinated. The supply is expected to increase in the coming months, and additional vaccines are in clinical trials and may be authorized by the Food and Drug Administration.
Currently, the state is still in phase 1A and 1B of vaccinations. That means that currently, COVID-19 vaccinations are only offered for health care workers, residents of long-term care facilities, people 65 and older and those with medical conditions that put them at greater risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19.
More information on COVID-19 vaccine can be found at dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus/immunize/vaccine.aspx.
Click here for a list of vaccination hub providers with contact information. Many already have a waiting list for appointments.
Click here to see the DSHS/Texas Department of Emergency Management map of vaccine providers.
