Local coronavirus cases increase slightly, recovered cases statewide reach 57%
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
The positive coronavirus case count has increased to 31 within the Copperas Cove city limits as of Sunday, with 21 cases listed as active, 8 recovered, and 2 deceased.
This is according to a Sunday press release issued by Copperas Cove Deputy Fire Chief/Emergency Management Coordinator Gary Young.
The city obtains its numbers from the Texas State Department of Health, as does Coryell County, which is also keeping a running case count on its website. The county’s case count includes positive cases of inmates housed at Texas Department of Criminal Justice facilities in Gatesville.
Sunday’s press release included two new cases added as of Friday, May 15, a female in her 30s in isolation and another in her 70s who is presently hospitalized.
Of the 31 cases total, 14 were added during the month of May and seven of the active cases from the month of April still remain on the list.
City Manager Ryan Haverlah explained to the Copperas Cove city council during a special meeting on Friday, why some of those cases still remain on the list, weeks later.
“One of the struggles that we as a local entity have, we are reliant on information from other organizations for these cases. We receive this information from the state health services department,” Haverlah said. “As the state department of health updates the cases, that is when we update our cases. The state is also required for contact tracing. So if someone has a positive case, the state actually begins the process of tracing all the different contacts that an individual has had, so they possibly know how widespread the contact is with other individuals.”
Coryell County officials have begun discussions of considering the formation of a county health district, which would enable the county to have more control of the statistical information in situations such as the current pandemic. Bell and McLennan Counties both have their own health districts.
Haverlah announced that during Thursday’s mobile testing held by the Texas Army National Guard at Fire Station #2, that 117 tests were conducted.
It is not known how many of Thursday’s tests returned positive for the virus, nor is it known when the city will host another mobile testing site. At the May 4 testing site, 106 were tested, with four returning with positive results with coronavirus, and 102 negative.
As of press time Monday, no release with any updates had been issued by the city of Copperas Cove.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Service’s website, updated on Sunday afternoon, there are 224 positive cases in Coryell County, the majority of which are TDCJ inmates.
The TDCJ has already begun the process of testing all inmates and TDCJ employees, and as of last Thursday, 13,191 inmates have been tested and 3,254 employees statewide, with testing completed at the Murray unit in Gatesville, along with the Pack, Sanchez, Middleton, Terrell, LeBlanc, and Lopez Units elsewhere. Testing continues or is underway at the Hughes Unit in Gatesville, along with the Wynne, Clements, Ellis, Michael, Telford, Woodman, Robertson, Fort Stockton, Darrington, Stiles, and Segovia Units elsewhere.
Statewide, a total of 693,276 tests have been conducted, with a total of 47,784 positive cases reported. A total of 18,967 cases remain active and 27,570 cases have recovered – or roughly 57 percent. Those being treated as inpatients has dropped to 1,551 and there have been 1,336 fatalities.
Saturday, May 16, saw the largest number of new cases confirmed at 1,801, with Friday seeing the largest number of single-day fatalities so far at 56 statewide. On Sunday, the number of confirmed new cases dropped to 785.
In the U.S., there are 1,480,349 total cases and a total of 89,407 have died from the virus in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control.