Peterson reports its first COVID-19 death in September

While COVID-19 hospitalizations continued to fall across Texas, Peterson Regional Medical Center saw their numbers go up on Wednesday, and the hospital added its first death in September of a Kerr County resident.

The Texas Department of State Health Services reported that hospitalizations fell to 12,817 people on Monday. However, those patients are still among the sickest, including 3,600 in the state's intensive care units. Of those ICU patients, 77% of those patients are on ventilators.

At Peterson, COVID-19 continued to tax the hospital staff, with 37 patients, including 10 in the ICU. Peterson reported a death of a Kerr County resident on Tuesday, marking the sixth COVID-19 death at the hospital since Aug. 1. Peterson reported 21 new cases — none were vaccinated.

During that period, at least 19 Kerr County residents have died from COVID-19, according to data compiled by the lead.

The death toll was also heavy across the state on Wednesday, with more than 400 deaths reported. The state also reported more than 24,000 new cases and a positivity rate of 15%.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has continually boasted about the falling hospitalizations and positivity rate. He's repeatedly failed to mention vaccination rate improvement, the number of fatalities or the strain on the state's intensive care units.