The Texas Department of State Health Services reported a Kerr County resident's COVID-19 death — the first in December.
New data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that 2020 was the deadliest year for Kerr County in more than 20 years. The CDC said 802 Kerr County residents died in 2020, and more than 715 have died in 2021. Between 1999 and 2019, about 714 people died in Kerr County annually.
The Texas Department of State Health reported just 50 deaths from COVID-19, but this data suggests an undercount of COVID-19 fatalities. Since the data is provisional, there are no specifics around coronavirus fatalities.
The 88 additional deaths are near the total number of Kerr County residents who died from COVID-19 in 2020. In 2019, 736 people died in Kerr County.
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And the issue of undercounting showed up again on Thursday in DSHS' latest disclosure. DSHS reporting further shows the hole in the state's death toll, along with ongoing confusion regarding the active cases in Kerr County. The Dec. 5 death is the 141st of a Kerr County resident, but that data does not reflect more than 20 deaths at Peterson Regional Medical Center since Dec. 1, 2020. The number is also not reflective of the more than 40 deaths at nursing homes, assisted living centers and other medical facilities.
The last Peterson Regional Medical Center death was on Nov. 16, which DSHS has not acknowledged. Of course, DSHS reporting has at times taken weeks to report deaths.
DSHS also reported 404 active cases on Thursday — a number not supported by Peterson Regional Medical Center or county officials. If the numbers were that high, there would likely be a correlation in hospitalizations. On Thursday, Peterson Health reported five people hospitalized, including one in the intensive care unit.
Another surge of COVID-19 would quickly overwhelm Peterson — again. In data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Peterson only had about 20% capacity in the intensive care unit and was nearly half full in the general part of the hospital.
The concern over the omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to grow among public health officials. It's not necessarily the seriousness of the illness, but its infectiousness — already being demonstrated in parts of the world.
Early studies show that the virus is four times more contagious than the delta variant. It also may evade antibodies.
"But fortunately, despite some viral social media posts, antibody escape should have little to no bearing on vaccine effectiveness against severe disease, long-term effects, hospitalization, and death," wrote Dr. Jeremy Faust, a Harvard physician who has written extensively on COVID-19. "That's because the part of our immune system that protects us against those outcomes is separate from the activity of neutralizing antibodies."
Omicron showed up Thursday near Dallas — the second case in Texas.
The World Health Organization reported that in South Africa, the number of severe virus cases remains low.
"Data that looked at hospitalizations across South Africa between Nov. 14 and Dec. 4, found that ICU occupancy in South Africa was only 6.3 % – which is very low compared with the same period when the country was facing the peak linked to the Delta variant in July," the WHO reported. "Data from the same two-week period from one of the health districts most impacted by Omicron found that out of more than 1,200 admissions, 98 were receiving supplemental oxygen, and only four were on ventilation. This is very preliminary data with small sample size, and most of the people admitted to the health facilities were under the age of 40. As the clinical profile of patients changes, the impact of Omicron may change."
- Oct. 1, as reported by Texas Department of State Health Services.
- Oct. 3, as reported by Texas Department of State Health Services (Reported on Oct. 22)
- Oct. 5, as reported by Texas Department of State Health Services.
- Oct. 6, as reported by Texas Department of State Health Services. (Reported on Nov. 4)
- Oct. 7, as reported by Texas Department of State Health Services. (Reported on Oct. 27)
- Oct. 10, as reported by Texas Department of State Health Services.
- Oct. 10, as reported by Texas Department of State Health Services (Reported on Oct. 21)
- Oct. 14, as reported by Peterson Regional Medical Center. (Reported on Oct. 15)
- Oct. 14, as reported by Texas Department of State Health Services (Reported on Oct. 20).
- Oct. 14, as reported by Texas Department of State Health Services (Reported on Oct. 21).
- Oct. 22, as reported by Texas Department of State Health Services (Reported on Oct. 28).
- Oct. 25, as reported by Texas Department of State Health Services (Reported on Nov. 12).
- Nov. 4, as reported by Texas Department of State Health Services (Reported on Nov. 11).
- Nov. 8, as reported by Texas Department of State Health Services (Reported on Nov. 20, changed to Nov. 8 on Nov. 30)
- Nov. 16, as reported by Peterson Regional Medical Center (Reported on Nov. 17).
- Nov. 23, as reported by Texas Department of State Health Services (Reported on Dec. 3)
- Dec. 5, as reported by Texas Department of State Health Services (Reported on Dec. 9).
