Julye Keeble
Staff writer
There have been 816 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Uvalde County since the first case was announced on March 26, and leading scientists advising on the pandemic have denounced the idea of herd immunity.
As of Thursday, there were six active cases of coronavirus in the county, down by four from the 10 cases reported for the previous day to the lowest total in several months, with one patient hospitalized.
According to the Uvalde Health Authority website, maintained by local health official Dr. Jared Reading, all six of the patients with active cases of coronavirus reside in Uvalde.
The number of probable cases of the coronavirus listed on the UHA website is at 33. The probable category is used for people thought to have COVID-19 but who have not tested positive.
There are 803 recovered patients who have ended quarantine, and there have been 5,344 negative tests performed for COVID-19.
Of the 40 deaths of Uvalde County residents who have tested positive for COVID-19, two have occurred in October, with the most recent reported on Tuesday, Oct. 13. Nineteen of those who have died were nursing home residents.
The case count per thousand for the state, with about 848,000 cases out of a population of 29 million, is 29.24 per 1,000.
For Uvalde County, with a population of about 26,741, the case count per thousand remains slightly higher at 30.51 per 1,000.
- Confirmed cases: 816
- Probable cases: 33
- Active cases: 6
- Recovered cases: 803
- Hospitalized: 1
- Deaths: 40
- Negative tests: 5,344
Scientific outlook
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a leading member of the White House coronavirus task force on the pandemic, said the rise of cases is of concern as cold weather nears and the flu season ramps up.
As the general public wearies of lockdown and other pandemic protocols that have been enforced to help slow the spread of the virus, many individuals have called for an end to protocols to allow so-called “herd immunity” to ameliorate the issue.
The general idea is to allow the coronavirus to spread among individuals, particularly those who are younger and considered to be in good health.
On Thursday, Fauci debunked that idea, stating it would likely result in numerous unnecessary deaths. He noted the idea of somehow sheltering elderly and immune-compromised people would be nearly impossible.
World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called herd immunity scientifically and ethically problematic on Monday, stating, “Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak, let alone a pandemic.”
Global scenario
Worldwide, more than 38.5 million people have been diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The number of new daily cases reported in the U.S. has risen sharply over the past month. Since Oct. 5 more than 2.2 million new cases and 39,000 deaths attributed to the virus have been reported across six WHO regions, the highest number of reported cases so far in a single week.
The United States is the worst-affected country, with more than 7.95 million cases of coronavirus and over 217,000 deaths.
According to Johns Hopkins University data, the state of California has the most cases in the U.S., with more than 867,000; followed by Texas with over 848,000 cases; and Florida with more than 742,000 known cases as of Thursday.
"six" - Google News
October 18, 2020 at 04:06PM
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Six current patients reside in Uvalde - Uvalde Leader-News
"six" - Google News
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