Coryell County closes out July with 377 total COVID-19 cases

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press 

The month of July 2020 saw a total of 237 new positive cases of the COVID-19 virus within Coryell County, as per the tracker on the Coryell County website. 

It’s unclear as to exactly how the virus is being spread within Coryell County, as the Texas Department of State Health Services is not releasing the names of any businesses or groups where the virus has popped up.

“DSHS does not release locations where people have visited prior to diagnosis or symptom onset,” said Lyndsey Rosales, a communications specialist with the Texas Department of State Health Services, in a June 18 email to the Leader-Press when asked about the local spread of the virus. “In the event of a large outbreak, the location could be announced, but that decision would be made in consultation with the local health authority, emergency management coordinator and the county judge.”

As of July 31, there were a total of 377 cases in all, with 280 active cases, 93 recovered cases, and four fatalities within Coryell County. 

From July 24- July 30, there were a total of 73 new positive confirmed cases reported by the state for Coryell County. Although the reports give a date for each new case, it doesn’t note the date these cases actually tested positive for the virus, but is when the state processes the reports it receives from healthcare facilities and issues the numbers to the county. 

On Monday, the city of Copperas Cove issued its report, stating there are 145 active cases within the city limits, out of a total of 198 cases. Of those 198, 50 are recovered/no longer active, and three are deceased. 

The number of fatalities within Copperas Cove due to the virus is now at four, having been confirmed by DSHS, although city and county officials had been aware of the fatality pending official notification by the state. The fourth fatality is a Copperas Cvoe man in his 80s who was listed on Monday as deceased as of July 9.

Of the 57 new cases within the city from July 23 through July 29, two are children under the age of 10, zero are ages 11-19, 19 are in their 20s, 11 are in their 30s, seven are in their 40s, three are in their 50s, and three are in their 60, with the remainder ages not known. 

According to the Texas DSHS website, there are a total of 612 cases within Coryell County, with 194 of those cases considered active. Again, the state includes the positive cases for inmates within Texas Department of Criminal Justice facilities within the county. 

At TDCJ facilities within Coryell County, there are a total of currently 15 active cases as of Sunday among inmates, with a total of 223 having tested positive. This is as per the Texas Department of Criminal Justice tracking website.

Over the weekend, the county’s tracker was not updated. The Texas Department of State Health Services took a break on Sunday, Aug. 2, with a statement on the website that there was a scheduled upgrade to the system that processes electronic lab reports. That means that on Monday’s update, it would include both Sunday’s and Monday’s new data which includes new positive cases, recoveries, active cases, fatalities, as well as both viral and antibody testing numbers and hospitalizations. 

Texas DSHS now stating on its online dashboard that it is no longer reporting “probable” positive cases of the virus. It is also not reporting both viral and antibody tests as a single number. 

As of Saturday within the state of Texas, there have been a total of 430,485 positive confirmed cases, including 9,539 new positive cases. Recoveries stand at 282,604, with 141,044 active cases statewide and 6,837 fatalities, which included 268 fatalities added on Saturday.

Hospitalizations are down as of Saturday within the state of Texas, at 8,969. In the local hospital region, there are 64 patients with lab-confirmed positive COVID-19, which includes hospitals in Bell and Coryell Counties. 

Testing continues to rise, with 17,297 tests having been conducted at healthcare facilities located within Coryell County. 

Statewide, there is a 12.05 percent state positivity rate for the past seven days.