A nurse demonstrates to a student how to self-administer a COVID-19 test at a testing location at the University of Texas at Austin. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune
Last winter, health experts worried about COVID-19 variants spreading quickly across the state, further overwhelming already crammed intensive care units. While health officials remain concerned about the potential for a wider outbreak fueled by more contagious variants, new case averages, hospitalizations and deaths are still trending down in Texas as the number of people fully vaccinated statewide has passed 25%.
Nationwide, the average weekly number of new COVID-19 cases has dropped in more than half of states as 29% of Americans are now fully vaccinated.
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COVID-19 pandemic changes to healthcare and health policy
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on major shifts in healthcare and health policy. The Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine is bringing together experts to discuss the acceleration of partnerships during the pandemic and new opportunities for a post-pandemic world at a virtual Health and Science Policy Research Day on Tuesday, May 4.
The event aims to examine how industry, governments and communities are working together during the pandemic and what lies ahead. Four panel sessions throughout the day will address topics like how to use health plan data to improve overall population health, how to build partnerships between healthcare organizations and community groups and how academic medical centers should respond to healthcare challenges. It will include participants from Baylor College of Medicine, Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, the University of Houston College of Medic
More than a month has passed since Gov. Greg Abbott ended virtually all statewide restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. Nationwide, new coronavirus cases are on the rise as new variants of the virus spread. And about four-fifths of Texans are not yet fully vaccinated.
But at least for now, the most dire predictions of a new major wave of cases in Texas have not come true, prompting a mix of theories from public health experts.
Those experts caution that a major increase in cases could still come and it may still be too early to tell whether Abbottâs decisions to lift the statewide mask mandate and allow businesses to fully reopen could prompt a new wave of infections. Still, daily new cases and the positivity rate have leveled off over the past month, while deaths and hospitalization have gone down substantially.
Health officials still wary despite no spikes in COVID-19 cases since Texas mask order lifted
By Patrick Svitek
AUSTIN, Texas - More than a month has passed since Gov. Greg Abbott ended virtually all statewide restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. Nationwide, new coronavirus cases are on the rise as new variants of the virus spread. And about four-fifths of Texans are not yet fully vaccinated.
But at least for now, the most dire predictions of a new major wave of cases in Texas have not come true, prompting a mix of theories from public health experts.
Those experts caution that a major increase in cases could still come and it may still be too early to tell whether Abbott’s decisions to lift the statewide mask mandate and allow businesses to fully reopen could prompt a new wave of infections. Still, daily new cases and the positivity rate have leveled off over the past month, while deaths and hospitalization have gone down substantially.
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COVID cases haven t surged since Abbott lifted mask order. Experts warn it s too soon to celebrate.
Patrick Svitek, The Texas Tribune
April 14, 2021
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Gabe Rosado, server, center, brings plates to the table of Kitty Weigel, right, at The Union Kitchen, 9920 Gaston Rd., Thursday, June 18, 2020, in Katy.Melissa Phillip/Staff photographer
More than a month has passed since Gov. Greg Abbott ended virtually all statewide restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. Nationwide, new coronavirus cases are on the rise as new variants of the virus spread. And about four-fifths of Texans are not yet fully vaccinated.