Experts call COVID uptick a ‘warning sign’
Texas reported more than 4,100 people hospitalized with the coronavirus on Wednesday, its largest total in six weeks and one that comes amid rising infections in El Paso and North Texas.
Hospitalizations hit a low in late September after a summer surge but have risen incrementally for the past 10 days, reaching 4,133 on Wednesday. Other key metrics were also up slightly from a week earlier, including the reported rolling average of new daily infections and the number of people testing positive for the virus.
Public health officials said the increase is likely due to a combination of factors, including pandemic fatigue and expanded reopenings, especially bars. Bars were only allowed to begin reopening in select counties on Wednesday, but many have already been opened for weeks after reclassifying as restaurants.
Infections are also rising nationally, particularly in themidwestand parts of the South.
“I think there’s definitely getting to be a little fatigue on the prevention measures,” said Diana Cervantes, an epidemiologist at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. “In
general, people are getting a little more lax, and there are more opportunities for close contact with schools and more businesses opening up.”
The biggest increases appear to be in Westtexas and areas in and around Dallas.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins raised the county’s pandemic risk level back to
red on Wednesday, and earlier this week Gov. Greg Abbott sent medical staff and supplies to El Paso to help respond to a wave of new COVID-19 cases.
“With a new and quickly escalating wave of COVID-19 cases hitting North Texas, it is more important than ever that we make good decisions,” Jenkins tweeted.
Spokespeople for the governor did not respond to requests for comment. Abbott announced the rolled back restrictions on bars last week, deferring approval to county judges. He has previously said he allowed bars to reopen prematurely this spring, and that it contributed to the state’s summer outbreak of infections and deaths.
Dr. Luis Ostrosky, a professor of infectious diseases at the Mcgovern Medical School at Uthealth, said Houston and other areas that were hard hit this summer are doing relatively well at the moment, though some trends are beginning to slip.
Four key coronavirus metrics all showed an increase over the past week in Houston-area hospitals, according to the Texas Medical Center, which tracks the data for the complex’s seven major hospital systems. That includes the so-called R(t), or rate at which the virus is spreading, which hit 1.16 Tuesday, an 18-percent increase in the past week.
A number below 1.0 means the virus is burning out in the area; a number above 1.0 means the spread is accelerating.
“We’re starting to see a very slow uptick in some of the metrics we’re seeing,” Ostrosky said. “So it is a warning sign that if we don’t maintain the focus, we’re heading toward a second wave.”