Gregg County new cases, spread levels of COVID-19 decline; active cases up

Published 5:39 pm Monday, February 7, 2022

Community transmission levels and newly reported cases of COVID-19 in Gregg County residents have declined in the past several days as the county recovers from a single-month record of new cases.

The Northeast Texas Public Health District on Monday reported 371 new total cases — 165 confirmed and 206 probable — in Gregg County residents, which is down from 475 new cases reported on Thursday. The county’s active cases, however, increased by nearly 350 — from 5,146 reported Thursday to 5,491 on Monday — a nearly 7% jump.

During the month of January, Gregg County saw its highest number of infections in a single month since NET Health began recording data in September 2020. In January, there were 4,643 new cases of the virus reported in the county, surpassing the 4,099 previous pandemic-high in September 2021.

In February, the county on Monday had seen 846 new cases of the virus. Comparatively, there were 435 cases reported in all of December and 121 cases reported in November.

NET Health on Monday reported a seven-day rolling rate of new cases of 97.50 in Gregg County, which is an 11% decrease from Thursday when the spread was at 109.49.

Gregg County on Monday had the second-highest level of community spread among counties among the seven counties for which NET Health provides disease surveillance, followed closely by Wood with a rate of 95.99. Anderson County had the lowest spread level of 65.07. Smith County had the highest seven-day rolling rate of new cases at 140.67.

Smith County on Monday had 625 new cases — 405 confirmed, 220 probable — reported since Thursday. There were 13,619 total active cases within the county.

Monday’s report shows that the number of patients being treated for COVID-19 in Tyler hospitals has decreased since Thursday. NET Health reported 272 East Texans treated for COVID-19 at Tyler hospitals, 29 less than those reported Thursday. The previous peak of hospitalizations was in September 2021 at 389.

The number of COVID-19 patients in the state’s 19-county Trauma Region G, which includes Tyler and Longview, on Monday continued to increase. There were 485 patients hospitalized in the region in the latest data, a decrease of 50 since Thursday’s report. Hospitalizations included 117 patients in ICUs and 92 patients on ventilators. In September of 2021, hospitalizations reached 822, the highest number of single-day COVID-19 hospitalizations in the region since the pandemic began.

As of Monday in Gregg County, 56.10% of people 5 and older had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 48.96% of people 5 and older had been fully vaccinated, according to the state. State data shows 88.94% of people 65 and older in the county had been vaccinated with at least one dose on Monday, while 81.27% 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.

Harrison County Judge Chad Sims on Monday said new cases of COVID-19 continue to decline in county residents, but he also announced three more deaths related to the virus in the past week.

Sims said there had been an average of 49 new cases per day in the past seven days, which was down 10 cases per day from the previous week. In numbers released Monday by Sims, there had been 343 total new cases in the past week. The county has had 206 COVID-19 deaths.

“Please continue to protect yourself and those around you,” Sims said Monday in a statement on Facebook. “Let us also remember those who have lost loved ones.”

Data gathered in Monday’s report represents data from noon Thursday to noon Monday.