Texas sets new death milestone, while Falls County cases slow

Falls County had a total of 145 positive coronavirus cases as of Aug. 17. This is an increase of nearly 12 percent, down from the 15 percent increase recorded the week prior. The highest number of cases in any one day this week was recorded on Aug. 11, with an additional seven cases. Since then increases of zero to four cases per day have been noted, coming to a total of 17 new cases and 8.78 cases per 1000 people in Falls County.

There were 98 recovered cases and 44 active on Aug. 17.

Though exact numbers are not available, it is estimated that there are about the same number of cases confirmed on each side of the river and split between the sexes, though females and the west side of the Brazos river are slightly favored. There have been upwards of three separate families that have been diagnosed, according to Falls County Judge Jay Elliott. 

Falls County has had three deaths recorded by DSHS, as have Milam, Robertson, and Limestone Counties. 

According to DSHS, these are recorded when the death certificate for each person is filed giving name to coronavirus as the culprit.

“Because DSHS is reporting fatalities by date of death, the number of fatalities for recent days will continue to grow as more death certificates are filed for those days,” says the COVID-19 dashboard.

Though only surfacing in the past few weeks, Falls County’s first death was recorded on June 12, second on June 14, and the most recent on July 31. 

Only one of these three were hospitalized specifically for COVID-19 before passing, while the other two diagnoses were discovered after death. Elliott explained that two of the three deaths were female, but did not specify whether either of them were the patient whose case was confirmed before death.

There have been 2,928 tests administered within Falls County, which is just over 17.5 percent of the population.

The surrounding counties with similar populations have seen varying trends over the last week, with Milam County having the least active cases, and Limestone having the most. 

Milam County had only 20 active cases on Aug. 17, with an increase of 20 cases in one week. It can be deduced that the 20 cases from the last week are the ones considered active. This brought the total number of positive cases to 366 that day, an increase of 5.8 percent from the 346 cases recorded on Aug. 10 The county has given less tests than Falls County, despite having more than double the number of positive cases, at 2,795 tests recorded.

Limestone and Robertson County numbers have greatly differed in the past week, though the two counties have danced around the same numbers on and off over the last month. Robertson has only had three additional cases, though Limestone recorded 67 new cases. Robertson saw a 0.02 percent increase, while Limestone had a 27.8 percent increase. It has 126 active cases, while Robertson County has only 39. Limestone has given nearly double the number of tests as Robertson, with Limestone showing 3,036 and Robertson showing 1,642. Because of Robertson County’s lower population, there are less cases per capita at 14.15 cases per 1000. Limestone has 13.8. 

This week, the State of Texas broke multiple records in relation to the pandemic, namely surpassing 10,000 deaths on Aug. 17. The only other states to see fatalities of this degree are New Jersey, New York and California, who were some of the largest hotspots at the start of the pandemic in March.

 There was also a backlog of about 95,000 tests that were added to the dashboard this week, according to a number of sources. 

“As the backlogged test results are added to the electronic reporting system, some counties are receiving notification of COVID positive results that were previously diagnosed but not reported to the local health department at the time the test was completed,” said the dashboard on Aug 17. “For this reason, the statewide confirmed case counts and some county case counts will include some older cases over the next few days.”

Including some of these additional tests, positives increased by more than 11 percent between Sunday, Aug. 16 and Monday Aug. 17, which is too high according to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who says that anything over a 10 percent increase is considered an “alarming” rate. 

Over the last week, total cases have increased by 10.8 percent, still over the recommended threshold, but less than the largest one day increase. 

Another record set in Texas this week was that the first case of fetal coronavirus was recorded in Dallas County. The six-week premature infant began showing symptoms and respiratory issues just two days after being born and was separated from her mother for a 20 day quarantine period. This is not the first case where an infant is born with the disease to an infected mother, but what makes this case different is that doctors tested the baby’s placenta. The specially administered test showed positive, meaning that the baby contracted the virus before birth, not just between birth and testing. This was also the first infant to show symptoms of the virus in that hospital. 

The state exceeded 500,000 total cases on Aug. 11, with 542,950 overall cases on Aug. 17. This is 18.29 cases per 1000 people in Texas. There were an estimated 405,817 recovered cases, with 127,099 active cases, as well as the 10,034 deaths. There have been nearly 4.5 million tests administered throughout the state, with 251 of 254 counties continuing to record positive cases. 

For more information on coronavirus in Texas, head to https://dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus/