Smith County reaches pandemic-low for COVID-19 community spread levels

Published 4:55 pm Monday, November 1, 2021

COVID-19 numbers in Smith County continue to move in the right direction, with Monday’s report from the Northeast Texas Public Health District showing community spread levels dropping nearly 25% to a pandemic-low of 11.66. Additionally, the number of total active cases in the county dropped by more than 23% to 1,006.

The county’s community spread remains at the lowest level of “moderate” the county has seen, at 11.66.

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 10 to 35 new cases per day for seven consecutive days.

Five of the seven counties covered by NET Health are seeing moderate community spread of the virus. Monday, Gregg County joined Anderson County as the only counties seeing “minimal” community spread levels of the virus. As of Monday, Rains County has moved up to moderate spread with Wood, Van Zandt, Henderson and Smith counties.

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 92 new total cases Monday, with 54 new confirmed cases and 38 new probable cases. There are now 1,006 total active cases within the county, as opposed to the 1,315 total active cases reported Thursday in Smith County.

According to NET Health, there were 98 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 74% lower than the high hospitalization rate of 389, which was reached just two months 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 188 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the state’s 19-county Trauma Region G, approximately 19 fewer than there were on Thursday. Of COVID patients hospitalized, 87 of those are in ICUs and 65 patients are on ventilators. In early September, hospitalizations reached 822, the highest number of single-day COVID-19 hospitalizations in the region since the pandemic began.

In Smith County, 56.36% of people 12 and older had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 49.78% of people 12 and older had been fully vaccinated, according to the state.

State data shows 83.19% of people 65 and older in the county had been vaccinated with at least one dose on Thursday, while 76.85% of that population had been fully vaccinated.

Other Counties

Gregg County had 185 confirmed active cases and 189 probable active cases Monday. Confirmed recoveries were at 8,770, while there were 9,887 probable recoveries, according to NET Health.

Henderson County had 127 confirmed active cases and 85 probable active cases, NET Health said. Confirmed recoveries were at 6,137, and there were 3,270 probable recoveries in the county, NET Health said.

Van Zandt County had 142 confirmed active cases and 117 probable active cases, NET Health said. Confirmed recoveries were at 4,475, and 3,235 people had likely recovered in Van Zandt County, NET Health reported.

Anderson County had 73 confirmed active cases and 100 probable active cases, NET Health said. Confirmed recoveries were at 2,469, and probable recoveries were at 2,851, the health district reported.

Wood County had 111 confirmed active cases and 196 probable active cases, NET Health said. Confirmed recoveries in Wood County were at 3,354 with 2,840 probable recoveries, NET Health said.

Rains County had 20 confirmed active and 18 probable active diagnoses, NET Health said. Confirmed recoveries were at 703 with 758 probable recoveries, according to NET Health.