Officials with the Texas Department of State Health Services delivered a hopeful message Friday, reporting a downward trend in the number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the area.
In Public Health Region 11 — a 19-county area in South Texas that includes the Rio Grande Valley, Laredo and Corpus Christi — there was a significant decrease in the number of cases reported this week, according to Dr. Elizabeth Cuevas.
“In previous weeks, we were receiving about 6,000 new cases per week and in the past seven days we’ve seen only an increase of 2,700 cases,” Cuevas said during a weekly news conference call held Friday morning.
While a huge improvement, Cuevas said officials were cautious about taking confidence in this downward trajectory seeing as how the lower number of test results could be a result of decrease in testing caused by the winter storm last month that left many Texans without power or water for days.
“Hopefully we will see another seven days of decreased cases in the week to come,” Cuevas said.
She added that COVID-19 hospitalizations in the Rio Grande Valley trauma service area were down to 8.5% of total hospitalizations. In Laredo, the rate is even lower at 6.7% while the rate in Corpus Christi was down to 5.6%.
“So these are definitely an improvement from the above 15% that we saw just a few weeks ago and so we’re very optimistic and excited about this new trend,” Cuevas said.
On Friday, Hidalgo County reported another 13 COVID-19 related deaths on Friday and 302 more positive cases.
The 13 deaths bring the county’s total to 2,679 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Of the new cases, 144 are confirmed, 135 are probable, and 23 are suspected cases. Since the start of the pandemic, the county has had 51,629 total confirmed cases, 35,934 probable, and 1,207 suspected cases.
Currently, 2,510 cases are considered active.
Within hospitals in the county, there are 168 individuals currently hospitalized due to COVID-19, a continuation of a downward trend in those numbers
Of those current patients, 81 are being treated in an intensive care unit.
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Cameron County health officials reported eight more deaths due complications from COVID-19 for a total of 1,514 for the county.
There were also an additional 50 positive cases for a total of 37,616 total cases in Cameron County of which 4,785 are considered active.
Dr. Emilie Prot, the regional medical director for Public Health Region 11, said they were also very excited about the rollout of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine which distributed to providers across the state last week.
“Trials have shown that it is effective against COVID-19 hospitalizations and severe cases,” Prot said. “The big advantage is that it is one dose. It has also had a lower profile of side effects which, (for) those who miss days of work, etc., would also present a great advantage”
DSHS released their list of vaccine allocations for Week 13, which begins Monday.
Hidalgo County is slated to receive 2,600 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on top of 7,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine and 9,360 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Cameron County is set to receive 4,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine along with 6,100 doses of the Moderna vaccine, and 4,680 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The state allocated 2,600 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to Starr County and another 1,100 doses of the Moderna vaccine.
Willacy County is set to receive 100 of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and 100 of the Moderna.
Next week is also when Gov. Greg Abbott’s new executive order is set to take effect.
The order rescinds the statewide mask mandate which required individuals to wear masks in public places. It also allows business to re-open to 100% capacity.
As a physician, Prot said she would continue to wear a mask and pointed out that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended double-masking when being in close proximity to others.
She encouraged the public to continue wearing masks and continue practice social distancing.
“Those work and we’ve seen them work and we want to continue implementing those,” she said. “We want to make sure that people know what to do and make the right choices for themselves and for their loved ones.”
