Gregg County’s COVID-19 active cases, transmission down

Published 6:57 pm Monday, February 14, 2022

Community transmission levels and active cases of COVID-19 in Gregg County have been on a steady decline in the last week as the county recovers from a single-month record of new cases.

The Northeast Texas Public Health District on Monday reported a seven-day rolling transmission rate of 58.78 in Gregg County, which is a 26% decrease from Thursday when the spread was at 79.87.

Gregg County has the fourth-highest level of community spread among the seven counties for which NET Health provides disease surveillance. Anderson County has the highest seven-day rolling rate of new cases at 86.85, and Rains County has the lowest rate at 36.53. All counties remain in substantial spread, indicating large-scale, uncontrolled community transmission in congregate settings, according to NET Health.

NET Health reported 188 new total cases — 87 confirmed and 101 probable — in Gregg County, which is down from 321 new cases reported Thursday. The county’s active cases also decreased by nearly 907 cases since Thursday, nearly a 16% decline.

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.

So far in February, the county has seen 1,355 new cases of the virus. Comparatively, there were 435 cases reported in all of December and 121 cases reported in November.

Monday’s report shows that the number of patients being treated for COVID-19 in Tyler hospitals has decreased since Monday. NET Health reported 200 East Texans treated for COVID-19 at Tyler hospitals, 42 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, is also declining. On Monday, 375 patients were hospitalized in the region, a decrease of 78 since Thursday’s report. Hospitalizations include 104 patients in ICUs and 77 patients on ventilators. In September 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, 56.25% of people 5 and older had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 49.19% of people 5 and older had been fully vaccinated, according to the state. State data shows 88.96% of people 65 and older in the county had been vaccinated with at least one dose on Monday, while 81.34% 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.

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