The outbreak in Texas

Thisweek’s COVID-19 digest

Texas set newrecords forCOVID-19 cases during Thanksgiving week as hospitalizations continued to climb statewide, reaching highs not seen since the pandemic’s peak here this summer.

Nationally, the virus continues to spread aggressively, with daily case counts reaching a high of 175,810.

Texas recorded 72,202 cases and 920deaths in the pastweek. This is the 7th highestweek-over-week increase in cases since the start of the pandemic. In terms of deaths, itwas the 31st highestweek-over-week increase. These numbers are likely higher but a number of counties did not report over the Thanksgiving holidayweek.

Some experts worried about the spike in advance of this week’s holiday gatherings, which is expected to give the virus opportunities to spread.

Hospitalizations in Texas thisweek reached 8,518— an increase of more than 350 fromlast Friday and remains as high as in early August. Locally, Texas Medical Center officials reported having plenty of available beds, although other parts of the state

100% were overwhelmed.

Cases continued to rise in thePanhandle and inmanymajor cities. Only the ElPaso, San Antonio, andVictoria areas saw decrease sin the percent of patients with CO VI Din local hospitals.

HarrisCounty added about 8,000newcases over the last week, remaining high despite the holiday.

The state’s overall positive test rate, a keymetric for gauging transmission of the virus, dropped to 10.3%, offering a glimmer of good news for Texas.