School nurse Janice Brooks spends her morning administering rapid COVID-19 tests on Jan. 13 at Judson Middle School.

Smith County has surpassed a pandemic high of new cases reported in a single month since the Northeast Texas Public Health District began reporting cases in September of 2020.

The previous pandemic high was during September 2021, when the county saw a total of 8,351 new cases, according to NET Health. As of Monday, there have been 8,857 new cases reported through the first 24 days of January, surpassing the pandemic high by over 500 new cases. Comparatively, there were 1,382 new cases reported in all of December and 504 new cases throughout the month of November, according to data from NET Health.

There was no data provided by NET Health on community transmission levels of the virus Monday. That data is expected to again be available in Thursday’s report.

Monday’s report shows active cases in the county are up nearly 16%, now at 9,747 total active cases compared to 8,411. Exactly one week ago, there were 5,860 active cases in the county. Monday’s number shows an increase of about 66% compared to the active cases reported a week ago.

NET Health also reported 1,338 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in the county since Thursday. The number of new cases reported Monday adds to the January monthly total, resulting in a new pandemic-high in new cases reported in a single month since September 2020.

Data reflects 848 of the new cases Monday to be confirmed while 490 are probable. NET Health defines probable cases as those that are attributed to patients who have received positive antigen tests, until the individual has been administered a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test. If a person’s PCR laboratory result is positive, that becomes a confirmed case.

On Monday, NET Health reported there were 265 East Texans being treated for COVID-19 at Tyler hospitals. The county’s hospitalization rates now trend similar to data last seen in mid-to-late October.

The number of COVID-19 patients in the state’s 19-county Trauma Region G also continues to increase. On Monday, there were 454 patients hospitalized in the region, an increase of 35 patients since Thursday’s report. The hospitalization number includes 99 patients in intensive-care units and 68 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 Monday in Smith County, 54.85% of people age 5 and older had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 48.11% of people age 5 and older had been fully vaccinated, according to the state. State data shows 85.69% of people 65 and older in the county had been vaccinated with at least one dose on Monday, while 79.14% 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 Monday, 84 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 47,462 total COVID-19 cases in Smith County since the pandemic began and 37,289 total recoveries, according to NET Health.

Other counties

Gregg County had 822 new cases — 428 confirmed, 394 probable — reported since Thursday. There were 3,997 total active cases within the county.

Henderson County had 396 new cases — 331 confirmed, 65 probable — reported since Thursday. There were 1,828 total active cases within the county.

Van Zandt County had 617 new cases — 499 confirmed, 118 probable — reported since Thursday. There were 1,760 total active cases within the county.

Anderson County had 98 new cases — 36 confirmed, 62 probable — reported since Thursday. There were 1,067 total active cases within the county.

Wood County had 292 new cases — 208 confirmed, 84 probable — reported since Thursday. There were 1,215 total active cases within the county.

Rains County had 59 new cases — 28 confirmed, 31 probable — reported since Thursday and there were 269 total active cases within the county.

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