Coryell County with 36 active COVID-19 cases as of Monday

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press

As of Monday afternoon, it was confirmed there were no new confirmed positive cases after a Copperas Cove resident in their 40s, gender unknown, had a test return positive on Wednesday, May 20.

Coryell County Emergency Management Coordinator, Bob Harrell, said on Saturday afternoon the county still had 224 confirmed cases

Of those cases, 36 are active, with 29 recovered, and two deceased. The remaining 157 are Texas Department of Criminal Justice inmates. Of the 67 community cases within Coryell County, more than 60 percent fall in the age range of 30-59, and only 14 percent, or nine, are over the age of 70.

Altogether, there are 224 confirmed on the Coryell County tracker. However, the Texas Department of State Health Services tracking website indicates there are 226 cases.

Harrell confirmed that the removed cases are because although the residents are Copperas Cove residents, they are not in Coryell County but in Lampasas County and would be transferred off Coryell’s numbers. 

There are presently 55,971 confirmed cases in the state of Texas, with an estimated 35,292 listed as recovered, 22,668 cases still being active. Of those active cases, 1,511 are presently hospitalized. A total of 1,527 have died from the virus in Texas.

At this point, 228 of the 254 counties in Texas have had positive confirmed cases of the virus, with Harris County having the most at 10,921, followed by Dallas County at 8,827 and Tarrant County at 4,977.

On Monday, there were 623 new cases in the state, with 8 additional fatalities.

There were 1,637,456 positive cases in the United States, up by 15,342 from Sunday, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The office of the Coryell County Judge and Coryell County Emergency Management issued a press release on Friday, indicating that COVID-19 continues to impact Coryell County communities and gave a list of symptoms that may appear two to 14 days after being exposed to the virus.

“In the interests of good health for all county residents, the County encourages anyone who may experience COVID-19-type symptoms to consult with their health care provider about available testing options.

“While many media reports continue to focus on the limited availability of tests, there is presently no shortage of tests in Coryell County, according to Coryell Health Systems (CHS). CHS reports the availability of 11 different types of testing with the capacity to process up to 800 tests daily,” the press release stated.

“I applaud everyone’s due diligence to slow the spread of the virus,” said Coryell County Judge Roger Miller. “While some of the focus on resuming economic activities in the state has become more political than epidemiological, we remind our citizens of the steps we can each take to mitigate the spread of the disease, even as we resume these important activities. We should especially be cautious with at-risk individuals such as our older family members.”

Coryell Health continues its COVID-19 hotline, at 254-248-6263, where those who have been exposed to the virus or think they may be ill, can call in. Coryell Health has medical staff triaging calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until further notice.