The Jan. 28 COVID-19 reports from Texas Department of State Health Services were better than they’ve been in a while. New case counts were way down Thursday as were COVID-19 hospitalizations this week, while recoveries were up.
Jan. 28 COVID-19 Case Counts
Texas Department of State Health Services’s Jan. 28 COVID-19 Case Counts dashboard showed only one new probable COVID-19 case reported for Hopkins County on Thursday. That’s only 16 probable cases so far this week, the same as during the first five days of last week. So far this month, there have been 138 new probable COVID-19 cases reported for Hopkins County.
Last month, from Dec. 11 (the day the state began issuing daily new probable case reports) to Dec. 28, a total of 180 Hopkins County probable cases had been reported; December closed out with 193 probable cases. Cumulatively, there have been 1,255 probable COVID-19 cases reported for Hopkins County since the state began tracking the data a few months back.
The state also removed one of the confirmed COVID-19 cases previously reported for Hopkins County. In the past, when a confirmed case is removed from the overall case counts, it mean the case was inadvertently counted more than once by the state or the case was mistakenly assigned to the wrong county due to an incorrect or incomplete address provided with testing information.
That change decreases the total number of cases confirmed this week by molecular testing to 15. By Thursday of last week, 18 new confirmed COVID-19 cases had been reported. This month, however, a total of 231 new cases have been confirmed. That makes 1,353 Hopkins County residents who have received lab-confirmed positive molecular COVID-19 test results since March 2020, according to the Jan. 28 COVID-19 Case Counts dashboard.
Thirteen additional Hopkins County residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, increasing the total so far this week to 57. A total of 347 Hopkins County residents have recovered from COVID-19 so far this month. Cumulatively, , 2,400 of the 2,608 COVID-19 residents who have had COVID-19 since last November have recovered.
No additional COVID-19 fatalities were confirmed for Hopkins County on Thursday, so the total stands at 92 Hopkins County residents confirmed by death certificate to have died from COVID-19 since March 2020.
That leaves 116 Hopkins County residents who still actively had COVID-19 on Thursday, according to the DSHS Jan. 28 COVID-19 Case Counts dashboard.
Jan. 27 COVID-19 Testing Data
Hopkins County/Sulphur Springs Emergency Management officials in the Jan. 28 COVID-19 update reported 8,816 COVID-19 tests have been performed at 128-A Jefferson Street since the Red Cross building was designated as a free testing site on Sept. 25. That means 79 oral swab COVID-19 tests were conducted at the testing center on Wednesday and a total of 247 tests conducted at the center so far this week.
Cumulatively since March, 13,789 viral (molecular) COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Hopkins County since last March, according to the DSHS Jan. 28 COVID-19 Test and Hospital Data dashboard.
DSHS also reported that 1,692 antigen tests, 1,790 antibody tests have also been conducted in Hopkins County, including the 67 antigen tests conducted on Wednesday. Cumulatively, 17.250 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Hopkins County and reported to the state.
Free oral swab 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.
Jan. 27 Hospital Data
HC/SSEM’s Jan. 28 COVID-19 update reported 18 patients in the COVID-19 unit at CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital-Sulphur Springs on Thursday, the second day in a row. That’s the lowest the patient count has been not only this month. In fact, the patient count in CMFH-SS COVID unit has only been lower once since Nov. 20, and only one patient lower on Dec. 17.
The COVID patient count in hospitals across Trauma Service Area F has remained relatively low over the last week, remaining below 200 since Jan. 20, dropping from 236 on Jan. 19 to 186 COVID-19 patients on Jan. 20, to 161 on Jan. 23, up to 177 on Jan. 24 and has remained below 170 for the last 3 days, steady at 167 on Jan. 25 and Jan. 26, and 168 on Jan. 27.
Total hospital capacity has fluctuated a bit, but has remained steady at 1,068 total staffed hospital beds the last two days.
COVID-19 hospitalizations have hovered near the 15 of total capacity during the last week, peaking at 16.87 percent on Jan. 21 and dipping as low as 14.81 percent on Jan. 23, with COVID-19 hospitalizations making up 16.73 percent of the total hospital capacity in TSA-F on Jan. 27. Restrictions on business capacity and elective surgeries continue to be in place for Hopkins County and most of TSA-F until the COVID-19 hospitalizations remains below the 15 percent capacity threshold outlined in GA-32 for seven consecutive days.
Jan. 27 COVID-19 Vaccine Data
Nineteen additional COVID-19 vaccines had been administered to people in Hopkins County as of 11:59 p.m. Jan. 27. Six additional Hopkins County residents were reported to have received the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and 13 receive the second dose of the vaccine, according to the DSHS Jan. 28 COVID-19 Vaccine Data dashboard. Any first doses administered this week are remaining from a previous week as the only doses allocated to Hopkins County this week are 100 of the second dose to go to those people who received the first dose of the vaccine approximately 4 weeks ago in Hopkins County.
A full list of vaccine allocations by week, click here.
People can find more information on COVID-19 vaccine at dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus/immunize/vaccine.aspx.
Click here for vaccination hub providers, with contact information across the state as well as the DSHS/TDEM map of vaccine providers
