NET Health: Gregg County’s active COVID-19 cases down 25%

Published 5:52 pm Monday, October 25, 2021

By Raquel Torres
rtorres@tylerpaper.com

In this Aug. 17 file photo, nursing coordinator Beth Springer looks into a patient’s room in a COVID-19 ward at the Willis-Knighton Medical Center in Shreveport, La. A decline in COVID-19 cases in the United States over the last several weeks has given overwhelmed hospitals some relief, but administrators are bracing for yet another possible surge as cold weather drives people indoors.

Monday’s COVID-19 Northeast Texas Public Health District report was a mixed bag for Gregg County.

The county’s active cases dropped by 25% in Monday’s biweekly update since the most recent report on Thursday. However, the county’s seven-day rolling rate of infection, which is used to determine community spread, rose by 22% during that same time period.

Gregg County’s seven-day rolling rate of infection was 10.83 on Monday reaching just into the threshold for “moderate” community spread, which consists of a rate of between 10 and 35. In Thursday’s report, the county’s seven-day rolling rate dipped to 8.87 — or “minimal” community spread.

Moderate community spread indicates sustained transmission with confirmed exposure within congregate settings and potential for a rapid increase in cases.

NET Health reported 46 total new cases of COVID-19 in the county since Thursday’s report and a drop in overall active cases of COVID-19 in the county. On Monday, NET Health reported just 21 confirmed cases from the previous four days. Total active cases in the county fell from 861 on Thursday to 647 on Monday.



Data gathered in Monday’s report represents the past 96 hours, from noon Thursday to noon Monday.

NET Health provides disease surveillance for Smith, Anderson, Henderson, Rains, Van Zandt and Wood counties in addition to Gregg. In its latest report, NET Health reported Henderson and Gregg county have joined Wood, Van Zandt and Anderson counties in “moderate” community spread of the virus. Rains is the only county remaining in minimal community spread levels of the virus.

Levels on Monday showed increases for Smith and Gregg County. About a month ago, the week ending Sept. 23, each of the counties had levels of community spread that were substantial — or 35 or more new cases per week adjusted for population.

According to NET Health, there were 116 East Texans being treated for COVID-19 at Tyler hospitals on Monday. The last time Smith County saw a similarly low local hospitalization rate was in August. Monday’s data is 70% lower than the high hospitalization rate of 389, which was reached just over a month ago in Tyler.

On Sunday, the latest day for which data was available, there were 233 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the state’s 19-county Trauma Region G, approximately 38 fewer than there were on Wednesday. Of COVID-19 patients hospitalized, 116 of those were in ICUs and 88 patients were on ventilators. On Sept. 8, hospitalizations reached 822, the highest number of single-day COVID-19 hospitalizations in the region since the pandemic began.

In Gregg County, 50.8% of people 12 and older were fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 on Monday, according to the state. On Monday, 79.03% of Gregg County residents 65 and older had been fully vaccinated.