NET Health: Smith County’s active COVID-19 cases down 24%

Published 5:09 pm Monday, October 25, 2021

Monday’s COVID-19 report from the Northeast Texas Public Health District was a bit of a mixed bag.

There was more good news on the COVID-19 front, as Smith County’s total active cases of saw a 24% drop since Thursday’s bi-weekly update from the Northeast Texas Public Health District.

On the other hand, the county’s level of community spread saw a 26% increase since Thursday. The county’s community spread did remain at the “moderate” level at 18.90.

Moderate community spread indicates sustained transmission with confirmed exposure within congregate settings and potential for a rapid increase in cases and occurs when the county sees from 10 to 35 new cases per day for seven consecutive days.

Six of the seven counties covered by NET Health are seeing “moderate” community spread of the virus. Rains is the only covered county to be experiencing “minimal” community spread levels of the virus.

Minimal community spread occurs when there’s evidence of isolated cases or limited community transmission, case investigations underway and there is no evidence of exposure in large congregate settings and when the county sees zero to 10 new cases of the virus for seven consecutive days.

The level of community spread is determined by taking the average number of all COVID-19 positive cases from the previous seven days. That number is then divided by the population of the county and multiplied by 100,000.

Smith County saw 154 new total cases Monday, with 93 new confirmed cases and 61 new probable cases. There are now 1,748 total active cases within the county, as opposed to the 2,295 total active cases reported Thursday in Smith County.

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.

No Smith County jail inmates had an active diagnosis of COVID-19, according to NET Health. One inmate has died due to COVID-19.

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

On Monday, there were 233 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the state’s 19-county Trauma Region G, approximately 38 fewer than there were on Thursday. Of COVID patients hospitalized, 116 of those are in ICUs and 88 patients are on ventilators. Earlier in September, hospitalizations reached 822, the highest number of single-day COVID-19 hospitalizations in the region since the pandemic began.

In Smith County, 56.09% of people 12 and older had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 49.39% of people 12 and older had been fully vaccinated, according to the state.

State data shows 82.89% of people aged 65 and older in the county had been vaccinated with at least one dose on Thursday, while 76.55% of that population had been fully vaccinated.

Other Counties

Gregg County had 647 confirmed active cases and 358 probable active cases Monday. Confirmed recoveries were at 8,612, while there were 9,697 probable recoveries, according to NET Health.

Henderson County had 213 confirmed active cases and 128 probable active cases, NET Health said. Confirmed recoveries were at 6,013, and there were 3,205 probable recoveries in the county, NET Health said.

Van Zandt County had 233 confirmed active cases and 220 probable active cases, NET Health said. Confirmed recoveries were at 4,362, and 3,096 people had likely recovered in Van Zandt County, NET Health reported.

Anderson County had 88 confirmed active cases and 145 probable active cases, NET Health said. Confirmed recoveries were at 2,439, and probable recoveries were at 2,790, the health district reported.

Wood County had 191 confirmed active cases and 158 probable active cases, NET Health said. Confirmed recoveries in Wood County were at 3,256, and there were 2,756 probable recoveries, NET Health said.

Rains County had 40 confirmed active and 32 probable active diagnoses, NET Health said. Confirmed recoveries were at 681, and there were 737 probable recoveries, according to NET Health.