TDCJ COVID-19 cases account for most of Coryell County cases

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press

As the calendar turns to the month of June, Çoryell County has seen a total of 281 individuals testing positive for the COVID-19 virus, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services website. 

Of those numbers, a total of 215 are inmates who have tested positive at three out of the five Texas Department of Criminal Justice correctional facilities in Coryell County. 

The TDCJ tracks its own numbers for both inmates and staff who test positive for the virus, along with recoveries, those who are in medical isolation, etc. 

The majority of those 215 positive cases at TDCJ are no longer active, with 163 altogether being listed as recovered and 52 still active. TDCJ’s Murray Unit lists 9 active cases, with 129 recovered. The Murray Unit had the most cases out of the units and countywide. The Woodman State Jail has a total of 71 cases, with 40 being active and 31 recovered. The Hughes Unit had 6 cases, with a 50-50 split of active and recovered cases. Crain, Hilltop, and Mountain View have had zero positive cases thus far during the pandemic. 

On Saturday, Coryell County Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Harrell reported one new case, a TDCJ inmate, with no other positive confirmed cases in the county. 

However, on Monday morning Harrell did say there will likely be an increase in TDCJ numbers for the county this week. 

Coryell County also keeps a spreadsheet on its website which is periodically updated. 

According to the most recent update, there have been no new cases since the last report on Thursday, May 28. 

Outside the TDCJ facilities, that leaves 66 cases total for Coryell County altogether. Out of those 66, 32 are recovered, two are deceased, and 34 cases are still considered active. 

The most recent positive case in the city of Copperas Cove was a man in his 70s who is in isolation, according to a report from Deputy Fire Chief/Emergency Management Coordinator Gary Young. This case was the first reported since Wednesday, May 20. 

The city now lists 35 cases, of which 24 are considered active, 9 recovered, and 2 deceased. After going to press on Monday, it was announced by Young thta the city's recovered cases number 16, wth 17 cases still active.

There are still no reports of any positive confirmed tests that were conducted on residents and staff of the three nursing facilities in Copperas Cove last week.

As of Sunday, May 31, there were 64,287 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in the state of Texas, with an estimated 42,423 listed as recovered, and 20,192 active cases. Sunday also saw an overall uptick of new cases, with 1,949. As of Sunday, there were 24 new fatalities in Texas. 

Of the active cases in Texas, 1,756 are presently hospitalized throughout the state with COVID-19. 

So far, the state has conducted a total of 951,865 viral tests and has conducted 102,928 antibody tests, with 4,044 having tested positive for the antibody. 

There were 1,761,503 positive cases in the United States as of Sunday afternoon, up by 23,553 from the day before, according to the Centers for Disease Control.