COVID-19 cases continue to increase, seven-day positivity rate highest since Sept. 3

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press 

Positive COVID-19 cases have continued a steady increase in Copperas Cove and Coryell County. 

The city of Copperas Cove issued its weekly update for COVID-19 cases on Monday Nov. 2, with a cumulative case count of 465 to include 72 active cases within the city limits.

Compared to the prior week’s report, the total case count is up by 25, yet the active case count is up by just two cases, with a total of 387 cases now recovered. 

Active cases in Copperas Cove numbered 58 on Oct. 5, but increased into the 80s during the month and have hovered in the low 70s the last part of October. Fatalities number six.

In Coryell County, the total number of COVID-19 cases increased to 885 as of Wednesday, Nov. 4. Active cases have also increased to 188. 

As of Nov. 2, Coryell County was seeing a seven-day average of 8.9 new cases per day, which translates to 11.7 daily new cases per 100,000 people.

This most recent trend puts Coryell County into the “orange” risk level, as outlined by Harvard University’s Key Metrics for COVID-19 suppression, published in July. 

Harvard’s Global Health Institute and the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics launched the publication to help give policy makers and the public guidance on how to target and suppress COVID-19 more effectively.

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“The public needs clear and consistent information about COVID risk levels in different jurisdictions for personal decision-making, and policy-makers need clear and consistent visibility that permits differentiating policy across jurisdictions, explained Danielle Allen, director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.  “We also collectively need to keep focused on what should be our main target: a path to near zero case incidence.”

The risk levels include the green level, less than one case per day per 100,000 people; the yellow level, 1 to less than 10 new cases per day, per 100,000 people; to orange, 10 to less than 25 new cases per day per 100,000; and red, greater than 25 new cases per day, per 100,000.

The green level means on track for containment of the virus, to monitor with viral testing and contact tracing; yellow means there is community spread, and calls for rigorous test and trace programs; orange means accelerated spread, with the addition of stay-at-home orders advised; and red is considering the “tipping point,” with stay-at-home orders necessary.

The website includes an interactive map that shows risk levels by state, congressional district, and county at: https://globalepidemics.org/key-metrics-for-covid-suppression/.  

COVID-19 cases in the state of Texas climbed to 926,400 with Wednesday’s update by the Texas Department of State Health Services. 

This most recent increase trend puts the state of Texas in danger of sliding into the highest risk level, or “red” level, with 21.4 new cases per day per 100,000 people.

Active cases in Texas are an estimated 112,776, with 18,320 fatalities. Daily new cases on Wednesday were at 9,048.

Statewide hospitalizations for COVID-19 statewide numbered 5,872, and made up 9.8 percent of those hospitalized in Texas. Statewide hospitalizations dipped during the month of September, but began to climb throughout October and continue to increase. 

Locally, there were 46 hospitalized due to COVID-19, out of a total of 1,227 presently in Trauma Service Region L hospitals. This is a total of 3.75 percent of local hospitalizations. 

The seven-day positivity rate was 9.27 percent on Wednesday, which is the seven-day average of those tested statewide who test and turn positive for COVID-19. This is the highest seven-day positivity rate since Sept. 3. 

COVID-19 cases in Central Texas*

Bell County 548 active cases (6,664 total)  

Burnet County 276 active cases (1,096 total)

Coryell County 188 active cases (885 total)

• Copperas Cove (city) 72 active cases (465 total) 
• TDCJ in Coryell Co 5 active cases (1,110 total)

Lampasas County 23 active cases (430 total)

McLennan County 578 active cases (10,528 total)

Williamson County 208 active cases (9,708 total)

*As of press time Thursday, numbers from Texas DSHS, City of Copperas Cove, Coryell County, TDCJ COVID-19 dashboard, Bell County Public Health District