With Thanksgiving later on this week, many counties will suspend their reporting for some or all of the holiday. Therefore, the discussion of data will be brief with the main takeaway: Texas is much better off now than at this time last year.
Figure 1 reports Cases and Hospitalizations for each of the five regions.
Central Texas had an increase in cases, but Hospitalizations continued to fall - reaching levels much lower than those seen one year ago (see red arrow corresponding to this past week and the entry for 11/22/2020).
Gulf Coast and North Texas numbers are lining out in a similar fashion.
The Border and Panhandle have increases in both Hospitalizations and Cases; however these changes are only the first indication of a change. The next two weeks will determine whether spread in advance of another peak is in its early stages or not.
The Hot Spots Map, Figure 2, shows a new "blemish" along the Southern part of the Border. (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html)
This, despite an improvement in the rural counties between Central Texas and the Panhandle. Here, counties which ring San Antonio appear to be at risk. These include La Salle (62% eligible population vaccinated), Frio (56%), Karnes (53%), Victoria (50%), Real (47%), Kerr (47%), and Bandera (44%) Counties. Based on an inspection of Hospital Resources for TSA-P, S, T, U, and V, such cases have not translated into an increase in the % of Hospital Beds or ICU's dedicated to Covid-19 patients. Such data typically lag Cases by 10-14 days.
Meanwhile, Vaccination Rates have continued at the same pace we have seen for the past month, between .3 and .5% Eligible Population.
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