Bell County continued to see a steady rise in hospitalizations related to COVID-19 Wednesday as cases continued to spike.
The Texas Department of State Health Services reported that Trauma Service Area L â which Bell County accounts for a large portion of â was now the region with the second-highest COVID-19 hospitalization rate in the state. The service area now has 13.58 percent of hospital beds filled with coronavirus patients, just under TSA R in East Texas with 13.61 percent.
The county previously had the highest percentage of hospitalizations due to the virus for the previous six days.
The Bell County Public Health District also reported a rise in active cases, which increased by 52 new infections since Tuesday to 845. While cases continued to rise deaths did not, staying at 471.
As COVID hospitalizations surge past 5,000, Gov. Abbott renews call for personal responsibility
FacebookTwitterEmail
Lydia Guerrero receives her vaccine at a mobile clinic organized by the city of San Antonio at St. Henry?•s Catholic Church on the West side of town.Jessica Phelps, Staff photographer / San Antonio Express-News
With COVID-19 hospitalizations soaring past 5,000 statewide for the first time in nearly five months, state officials are stepping up vaccination outreach programs and promotional campaigns but Gov. Greg Abbott insists that the state won’t impose any new mandates on Texans.
State officials announced Wednesday that Texas has 5,292 people hospitalized with lab-confirmed COVID-19 the highest number since March 2, the day Abbott announced he was ending all state mask mandates and restrictions on businesses.
Hospitalizations related to COVID-19 in Trauma Service Area L â which includes Bell County â are now the highest in Texas, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The hospitalization rate of 11.58 percent reported by the state is nearing closer to the 15 percent capacity that would allow occupancy restrictions to be put back into place.
The surge in hospitalizations comes as the Bell County Public Health District on Monday reported one new COVID-19-related death on its online dashboard. The county deaths now total 471.
âThe other thing to highlight, in my mind, from the state dashboard is that TSA L has now had the highest hospitalization rate of any TSA in the state for the past four days,â Bell County Judge David Blackburn said. âPrior to that, we have never had the highest rate in the state.â
BELTON â With 285 homeless individuals surveyed last year in Temple alone, local leaders and non-profits are now looking at a new project to help these people.
Bell County Commissioners met with local leaders Sue Hamby, Pat Patterson and Dan Kirkley to discuss their project for the creation of a facility to house homeless residents in North Temple.
âOur plan is to hopefully make this into a countywide project that would provide affordable housing, similar to supportive or transitional housing,â Hamby said. âWe have a lot of homeless living in the three cities of Temple, Killeen and Belton. And we feel like there is no place for them to live even if there is money.â
Cases of COVID-19 continued to rise in Bell County Tuesday following the report of one new death from the coronavirus.
Deaths from coronavirus have now reached 470, according to the Bell County Public Health Districtâs online dashboard. The site also showed the number of active cases broke past 512.
Incidence rates of cases also reached 141.9 cases per 100,000 Tuesday â the highest the county has seen since early March.
Rising infections are mainly being attributed to the unvaccinated by local hospitals and health care providers.
âOf note, the majority of the patients we are treating for COVID-19 infections are under the age of 50 and not vaccinated,â Deke Jones, spokesman for Baylor Scott & White, said. âWe urge unvaccinated community members to get vaccinated, as data proves it prevents serious illness and hospitalizations.â