FILE — This illustration provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in January 2020 shows the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The coronavirus outbreak has exposed a seeming disconnect between the financial markets and science. Health experts are uncertain how far the virus out of China will spread and how bad the crisis will get, yet stock markets are rallying as if they’re not expecting more than a modest hit to the global economy.

The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Smith County stands at 10 with the most recent update from NET Health.

The Northeast Texas Public Health District released updated totals at 2 p.m. on Monday. The release also said there are still no cases in Smith County in which the patient died.

While the number of confirmed positive cases has remained level since Saturday, that number still represents the second highest rate of confirmed cases per capita in the state, according to Texas Department of State Health Services data on Monday.

Smith County represents .77% of the state’s 29.47 million residents, but has 2.84% of the confirmed positive cases statewide.

With an estimated population of 227,727 people Smith County has a rate of 1 confirmed positive case for ever 22,773 residents. Of counties with more than 200,000 residents only Galveston has a higher rate with 15 cases or 1 per 22,336 residents. Galveston is also part of the Houston metro area, which encompasses 10 counties.

Smith County is about 100 miles away from the nearest large metro area with Dallas-Fort Worth to the west and Shreveport-Bossier to the East. Including Galveston in a per capita count for confirmed positive cases in the Houston metro area would yield a much lower rate.

While Dallas County has the most confirmed positive cases of coronavirus at 33, that only represents a rate of 1 per 79,333 residents.

On Sunday NET Health Public Information Officer Terrence Ates told the Tyler Morning Telegraph that they could not provide information such as what city patients lived in or what locations they may have visited.

“There are no definitive answers as to why more positive cases are being confirmed in Smith County as compared to other counties in East Texas,” Ates said.

Ates indicated that the end of the initial two-week period from the announcement of the first local cases could shed further light on the situation.

“The first three individuals were announced on Friday, March 13th, and this Saturday, March 28th, will provide a watershed moment for East Texans to receive information related to their health status,” Ates said.

Ates said that NET Health is only aware of the total number of samples analyzed daily by the Public Health Lab of East Texas, and only informed of positive cases by private laboratories. When asked for a total of tests analyzed at the Public Health Lab, Ates did not provide a figure.

He said that physicians are adhering to CDC guidelines for who should be tested, and will continue to do so until more testing kits become available.

“When going to a medical provider, patients that are showing the symptoms are being tested for flu and for pneumonia, in order to diagnose the severity of their symptoms,” he said. “Clients are being denied having COVID-19 samples taken due to the physician’s adherence to the CDC protocols for diagnosing patient symptoms that meet the criteria for COVID-19 testing. The specificity of physicians at our local clinics and hospitals to determine eligibility for COVID-19 testing will remain in the CDC protocol until an increase in testing kits become available.”