The Texas Department of State Health Services said a Kerr County resident died from COVID-19 on Aug. 28 — driving the county's estimated death toll in August to 15.
COVID-19's surge continued into the first day of September on Wednesday, with 38 people admitted to Peterson Regional Medical Center, including four who were vaccinated. Peterson said 30 people tested positive.
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The Texas DSHS changed the way it reports hospitalizations on Wednesday by including intensive care unit impact, and the number of children hospitalized. Texas had more than 13,800 people hospitalized on Wednesday, including 284 children.
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The severity of the coronavirus pandemic's strain on Peterson Regional Medical Center came into greater focus after The Lead reviewed data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The HHS data suggests Peterson had 767 people hospitalized since July of 2020 with COVID-19. Approximately 81 of those ended up in Peterson's 14-bed intensive care unit. At least 25 people have died from COVID-19 at Peterson.
The takeaway? One is that 14% of Kerr County's 5,465 COVID-19 patients faced hospitalization. About 10% required intensive care of those hospitalized, but 30% of those sickest patients died.
Officials at Peterson were working to confirm the numbers for The Lead. Peterson has gone to great lengths to differentiate Kerr County residents from those living outside of the county. However, one number that does matchup (approximately) is the total days hospitalized. Peterson has cared for COVID-19 patients for more than 4,000 days during the pandemic. As a snapshot, Peterson has spent more than 300 days caring for COVID-19 patients since Aug. 20.
The most significant number of hospitalized have been those aged 60 and older, but that has shifted recently as the delta variant took hold. Based on one set of numbers, the 60 and over demographic accounted for 80% of COVID-19 admissions.
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In recent weeks, hospitalizations of those 50 and under rose significantly. In seven days ending Aug. 13, at least eight people under 40 were admitted — the most during the pandemic.
Of course, this is also the iffy world of COVID-19 data, where what seems right is probably somewhere between. HHS' reports, also derived from Texas DSHS data, indicate that 93% of Peterson's ICU beds are full, about half COVID-19 patients.
