COVID-19 community spread level drops to minimal in Gregg County

Published 4:26 pm Monday, March 14, 2022

New cases of COVID-19 in Gregg County have slowed to just a trickle as the level of community spread of the virus on Monday decreased to minimal.

The Northeast Texas Public Health District on Monday reported there were 22 new total cases in the county since Thursday. Of those, three were confirmed and 19 probable. The number is just more than one-third of the 66 new total cases reported on Thursday.

And while active cases of the virus in Gregg County rose slightly, the county’s community spread level moved to minimal after hovering at the lower levels of moderate for the past couple weeks.

The seven-day rolling rate of new COVID-19 cases in Gregg County went from 11.52 on Thursday to 9.91 on Monday. The rolling rate determines the level of community spread.

Moderate community spread is denoted by a seven-day rolling rate of more than 10 and less than 35. The level indicates sustained transmission with confirmed exposure within congregate settings, according to NET Health.

Minimal community spread, or evidence of isolated cases or limited community transmission, is a seven-day rolling rate of 10 or fewer, according to NET Health.

Gregg on Monday had the second-highest seven-day rolling rate among the seven counties for which NET Health provides disease surveillance. Anderson County’s was the highest at 10.63. Wood County had the lowest rate of 2.82.

Active cases of COVID-19 in Gregg county were 1,185 on Monday, up slightly from 1,164 on Thursday.

According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, Gregg County has had 662 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic. The number of fatalities reported by the state has not changed since Feb. 25.

NET Health on Monday reported there were 47 patients being treated for COVID-19 in Tyler hospitals. The number reached a pandemic-high of 389 in September.

There were 99 COVID-19 patients on Sunday in the state’s 19-county Trauma Region G, which includes Longview and Tyler, according to data from the state. On the previous Sunday, there were 146 patients in the region. The number had not dipped below 100 since December.

In Smith County, NET Health on Monday reported 25 total new cases of the virus in residents since Thursday.

Harrison County Judge Chad Sims on Monday reported an increase in the number of cases in county residents.

In the past week, there were 157 new cases, according to Sims. There were 120 the previous week. The average number of new cases rose from 17 the previous week to 22 in the past week. There was one new Harrison County COVID-19 death reported in the past week, according to Sims.

“These numbers are still relatively low but should be a reminder to us to be cautious,” Sims said in a post on his Facebook page.