The outbreak in Texas

This week’s COVID-19 digest

On Monday, the nation marked its 500,000th death caused by COVID-19. Here in Texas, the toll has exceeded 42,000 people, accounting for roughly 1 in 12 deaths nationally.

Data for last week includes cases that went unreported during the statewide power and water crisis caused by the winter storm.

The state recorded 52,995 new cases and 1,594 deaths last week, up from the previous week's artificially low number and on track with the number of deaths reported the first week of February.

Hospitalizations remained low, with about 6,185 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 statewide. That's less than half the number of patients hospitalized at the end of January.

The positive test rate is now 11.87 percent, down from 13.15 percent the week before.

Vaccine distribution returned to normal following the winter freeze. On Wednesday, the state's largest vaccine hub opened at NRG Park, with plans to vaccinate about 6,000 people each day for the next two months.

More than 5 million people (about 15 percent of Texans age 16 and older) have received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. More than 1.6 million Texans are fully vaccinated.

In Harris County, about 465,000 people, or 13 percent of the population age 16 and older, have had at least the first dose of the vaccine.

On Saturday, the Food and Drug Administration approved the Johnson & Johnson single-shot vaccine, making it the third on the American market and the first to require just one dose.