On Monday afternoon, Peterson Health delivered bad, good and ugly news regarding COVD-19 spread in Kerr County.
First, let's cover the bad — 142 people tested positive for the virus. That's the most Peterson has reported from a weekend or single day since the pandemic's start in March of 2020.
The good news? Hospitalizations remained steady at 21 people. That's where we've landed with COVID-19 and the omicron variant — 21 people hospitalized is a measure of some success in fighting the virus.
Finally, the ugly news — seven of those 21 hospitalized people are in intensive care. That means at least half of Peterson Regional Medical Center ICU capacity is COVID-19 patients.
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Peterson Health tested more than 1,000 people in a week, coming back with 449 positive cases since Jan. 3. Positivity ranges about 29%, according to Peterson Health. That percentage is well below the state average of 37% — or higher.
On Monday, Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly urged people to take precautions.
"What Peterson is telling us now is we can expect this omicron thing to spike in the next week or two," Kelly said during Monday's commissioner's court meeting. "Whether you believe it or not, I'm just asking everyone to take care of yourself. Take care of your family. Be careful."
The Texas Department of State Health Services reported another day of 50,000 confirmed cases. Hospitalizations rose about 10,400 on Sunday — hospital data is delayed by at least 24 hours. The good news was that pediatric admissions fell for a second straight day — from a record 400 to 389.
However, the state's data is delayed, making it difficult to determine the real-time position of the state. As an example, Dec. 27 will probably be the worst day for COVID-19, and it's now showing 70,000 positive results — but the state presented 17,000 cases to the public.
Kerr County averages 49 cases per day since last week, just from Peterson's testing. A forecasting model developed by the Mayo Clinic shows Kerr County enduring between 50-250 new cases every day through Jan. 22.
The model, however, is based on DSHS information — which rarely depicts a real-time situation on the ground. Peterson's numbers alone indicate that the next two weeks will be formidable for treating the virus.
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Kerr County's biggest one-day reports
- 142, Monday, Sept. 21, 2020
- 142, Monday, Jan. 10, 2022
- 117, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021
- 110, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020
- 102, Monday, Jan. 3, 2022
- 92, Monday, Sept. 20, 2021
- 84, Thursday, Dec. 23, 2020
- 81, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020
- 74, Friday, Dec. 18, 2020
- 71, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020
- 62, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021
- 62, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021
- 59, Friday, Jan. 7, 2022
- 58, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022
- 56, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021
- 52, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021
- 51, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021
- 51, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020
- 47, Sunday, July 12, 2020
- 46, Tuesday, Jan 4, 2022
- 43, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022
- 39, Monday, Dec. 27, 2021
- 39, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021
- 34, Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021
- 32, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021
- 31, Thursday, July 16, 2020
- 30, Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021
- 27, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021
- 26, Thursday, July 23, 2020
