Thursday marks one year since first positive COVID-19 case in Copperas Cove

By LYNETTE SOWELL 
Cove Leader-Press 

Thursday, March 25, marks one year ago that the city of Copperas Cove announced its first positive case of COVID-19 within the city limits. 
Since that first case, a total of 2,697 of Copperas Cove’s approximately 36,000 residents have tested positive for the virus, according to the weekly report issued on Monday, March 22. Of those 96 are currently “active” cases, with 2,572 listed as being recovered/no longer active. Fatalities within the city limits are now at 29, up from 26 last week. 
Within Coryell County overall, not including inmates housed at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice units, there have been a total of 5,012 cases, with 206 active cases and 53 fatalities, as of March 17.
Although there are still new cases daily, the hospitalization rate as well as active cases are continuing their downward trend statewide.
As of Sunday, there were a total of 106,471 estimated active cases out of a total 2,366,494 confirmed cases as of Sunday in the state of Texas. Hospitalizations statewide for COVID-19 dropped to 4,093 as of Saturday. In Trauma Service Area L, there were 44 lab-confirmed COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of Saturday, which is 4 percent of 1,110 patients hospitalized locally. 
Accessibility and eligibility to receive one of the three vaccines available for COVID-19 has increased, with last Monday being the date that Texas entered phase 1c of vaccine distribution, opening eligibility to those age 50 and up, without any underlying health conditions that would put them at higher risk of complications should they contract the virus.
Locally, Coryell Health and AdventHealth are two local providers of the COVID-19 vaccine. Coryell Health has online registration for the vaccine at https://app.blockitnow.com/consumer/coryell-health. 
AdventHealth also has online registration at https://www.adventhealth.com/coronavirus-resource-hub/sign-latest-corona...
Walmart and H-E-B pharmacies receive vaccines as part of the Federal Retail Pharmacy vaccine distribution program. Walmart pharmacies in Copperas Cove, Gatesville, and Killeen also schedule appointments for the vaccine, administered at no cost. Walmart’s scheduler can be found by visiting wwww.Walmart.com/covidvaccine. H-E-B has a webpage for vaccine distribution at https://vaccine.heb.com/scheduler.  Those currently eligible to receive the vaccine can sign up on the H-E-B website. 
As with all the above avenues to receive the vaccine, appointments are booked depending on the number of vaccines available in any given week. Vaccinations are available at no cost. 

COVID-19 cases in Central Texas as of March 22
Bell County    284 active cases    (21,154 total)  
Burnet County    180 active cases    (3,938 total)
Coryell County    206 active cases    (5,012 total)
    Copperas Cove (city)    96 active cases    (2,697 total)
Lampasas County    8 active cases    (2,080 total)
McLennan County    211 active cases    (25,747 total)
Williamson County    0 active cases    (36,556 total)
Numbers from Texas DSHS, Coryell County, Lampasas County; Bell, McLennan, and Williamson County Public Health Districts