With each passing day, the COVID-19 situation in Kerr County continues to improve, especially in one key metric — hospitalizations.
On Monday, Peterson Regional Medical Center said its COVID-19 patient count fell to 20 people, but seven of those were in the intensive care unit. However, Peterson reported only 27 new cases. The Texas Department of State Health Services reported approximately 20 new cases in its tally.
The good news continued across the state of Texas as the fast-spreading omicron variant appears to be winding down. Regardless, more than 9,600 people remained hospitalized across the state — nearly one-third of those patients in intensive care.
Omicron’s impact is still being felt as school districts, nursing homes and care facilities assess the number of those who tested positive. During the court of the pandemic, nearly 1,000 school children tested positive, but it’s unclear how many days those students missed. All students were required to miss the full 10 days of school, while teachers and staff were expected to miss five days as long as their COVID-19 test returned negative.
At nursing homes, where the data is delayed two weeks by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, it’s hard to determine the full extent of omicron, but on Jan. 24 River Hills Nursing and Rehabilitation had 21 patients test positive for the virus.
The other source of good news was no new fatalities were reported in Kerr County during the last few days. January will still remain one of the deadliest months during the pandemic with at least 17 dead.