COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Tarrant county. Last Friday, 95 more cases and two deaths were reported despite fast vaccination administration efforts. With the Independence day celebrations approaching, the increasing covid cases may be a matter of concern.
Till now, 263,690 cases are totally reported in the county, out of which, 258,038 have recovered. The county has also reported 3,572 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. Among cities, Fort Worth has the highest number of deaths with a total of 1,459 persons succumbed to the pandemic, followed by Allington with 696. Daily cases as well as deaths were decreasing over the past few weeks but now has once again, started to rise now despite vaccination efforts.
Till now, 54.2 % of adults in Tarrant have taken at least the first dose of vaccine and around 48% have completed the process by taking the second dose. But the numbers are still lower compared to that of entire Texas, which has around half of its population taken both doses.
The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has increased to 150, the highest since May 19. Almost 3% of total hospital beds are presently occupied by covid 19 patients and ICU bed occupation stands at 87%. But the stats have improved a lot compared to the peak time when ICU bed occupation was 99%.
Due to the increased pace of vaccination, Test Positivity Rate has come down to 6%, almost one-fifth of the pandemic high of 30%. But the number is on a slow rise these days as regulations are eased across the county.
Vaccines have given promising results so far and more people are being vaccinated each day. As of now, more than 80% of people aged above 65 have taken at least one dose of vaccine and more than 75% have taken both doses. This helped reduce the number of deaths of senior citizens.
The presence of the Delta variant of coronavirus is still a matter of concern. The delta variant now accounts for around 20% of all covid 19 cases in Texas, and the variant accounted for less than 5% of the total covid 19 cases a week ago.
As of July 1, Texas has reported a total of 2.5 million covid 19 cases. Although the daily cases are steady, health experts fear a spike in upcoming days as the entire nation is gearing up for the Independence day celebration.
Independence day is approaching and we are about to witness celebrations across the county. Last year it was not celebrated due to lockdown and other regulations. So, more people may go out to celebrate. Unless authorities take proper measures and citizens respect covid protocols, we may once again witness another spike in covid cases as we still haven’t completed the vaccination process. As the older citizens are getting vaccinated, the younger ones are now at higher risk and doctors say that people aged between 25 and 40 are the ones mostly admitted to ICUs and ventilators.
