Community spread of COVID-19 in Smith County drops 26%

Published 6:00 pm Thursday, January 27, 2022

Smith County saw a 26% drop in community spread of COVID-19 in data released Thursday by the Northeast Texas Public Health District.

The previously reported community spread level of the virus on Jan. 20 was 217.33 as there was no regular update Monday. Thursday’s report shows the county’s community spread level at 160.74.

Smith County on Monday surpassed a pandemic high of new COVID-19 cases in a single month since NET Health began reporting data in September 2020.

The previous pandemic high of new virus cases was September 2021, when Smith County saw a total of 8,351 new cases, according to NET Health.

As of Thursday, 10,134 new COVID-19 cases have been reported through the first 27 days of January, topping the previous pandemic high by almost 1,800 new cases.

Comparatively, there were 1,382 new cases reported in December and 504 new cases in November, according to NET Health.

Smith County has the second-highest rate of community spread levels among counties covered by NET Health behind Van Zandt County at 217.85. The NET Health county with the lowest community spread level is Anderson County at 56.66

Thursday’s report shows active cases in Smith County are up almost 12% and are at 11,021 compared with 9,747 reported Monday. A week ago, there were 8,411 active cases in the county.

NET Health also reported 1,277 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in the county since Monday. Of those, 566 are confirmed and 711 are probable. NET Health defines probable cases as those that are attributed to patients who have received positive antigen tests, until the person has been administered a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test. If a person’s PCR laboratory result is positive, that becomes a confirmed case.

On Thursday, NET Health reported 280 East Texans treated for COVID-19 at Tyler hospitals. The peak in local hospitalizations was in September 2021, when that number reached 389.

The number of COVID-19 patients in the state’s 19-county Trauma Region G, which includes Tyler and Longview, also continues to increase. On Thursday, 497 patients were hospitalized in the region, an increase of 43 since Monday’s report. Hospitalizations include 101 patients in ICUs and 73 patients on ventilators. In the first half of September, hospitalizations reached 822, the highest number of single-day COVID-19 hospitalizations in the region since the pandemic began.

As of Thursday in Smith County, 54.95% of people age 5 and older had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 48.23% of people age 5 and older had been fully vaccinated, according to the state. State data shows 85.73% of people 65 and older in the county had been vaccinated with at least one dose as of Thursday, while 79.21% of that population had been fully vaccinated. As of Nov. 4, children 5 to 11 years of age are included in vaccination numbers and rates.

At the Smith County Jail as of Thursday, 14 inmates had an active diagnosis of COVID-19, and one inmate has died due to COVID-19, according to NET Health. The Smith County Jail recently announced it has suspended in-person visitation due to the recent uptick in cases.

There have been 48,739 total COVID-19 cases in Smith County since the pandemic began and 37,292 total recoveries, according to NET Health.

Other counties

Gregg County had 445 new cases — 239 confirmed, 206 probable — reported since Monday. There were 4,436 total active cases within the county.

Henderson County had 324 new cases — 211 confirmed, 113 probable — reported since Monday. There were 2,151 total active cases within the county.

Van Zandt County had 114 new cases — 94 confirmed, 50 probable — reported since Monday. There were 1,904 total active cases within the county.

Anderson County had 131 new cases — 15 confirmed, 116 probable — reported since Monday. There were 1,198 total active cases within the county.

Wood County had 196 new cases — 126 confirmed, 70 probable — reported since Monday. There were 1,411 total active cases within the county.

Rains County had 17 new cases — six confirmed, 11 probable — reported since Monday and there were 286 total active cases within the county.

Total recoveries and total active cases include probable and confirmed data. Data gathered in Thursday’s report represents data from noon Monday to noon Thursday.