80% Of All Ellis County Hospital Patients Have COVID-19
While the state average for COVID hospitalizations has decreased, by 379 patients compared with a week ago, Ellis County hospitalizations have increased.
According to the Ellis County COVID-19 dashboard COVID-19 patients now occupy roughly 80% of the hospital beds in Ellis County (149 out of 187 patients). And in the ICU, which normally consists of 18 beds, has been expanded to 37 with all 37 patients being treated for COVID-19. Also, typically the day after a holiday weekend case numbers are artificially low, but DSHS reports Ellis County has an estimate of 833 active COVID-19 cases.
It’s important to note since there aren’t any pediatric beds in Ellis County, this doesn’t reflect any children that may be hospitalized. Data for TSA Region E shows there are 132 total COVID-19 pediatric patients hospitalized.
19.4% Positivity Rate in Ellis County
If you’ve been following our Ellis County COVID-19 reports, you’re aware there haven’t been this many active cases since January 2021. The positivity test rate in Ellis County is 19.4% which is higher than Dallas (14%) and Tarrant County (16.9%). Of course positivity rate isn’t the most accurate picture of community spread as it doesn’t take into account home tests or those that don’t get tested. Over the last week, Ellis County, Texas has averaged 177 new confirmed cases per day (95.8 for every 100,000 residents)
Fatalities have also been increasing, for perspective, on August 9 Ellis County had a total of 329 fatalities. In less than 30 days the county’s fatalities have increased by 33. From March 2020 to today, Ellis County reports 362 fatalities from COVID-19 *data from DSHS dashboard.
According to the New York Times, since January of last year, at least 1 in 7 people who live in Ellis County have been infected, and at least 1 in 512 people have died (2.1 deaths per 1,000). As of September 7, forty one percent of Ellis County residents have been fully vaccinated.
Taking a look at the COVID-19 school dashboards: Midlothian ISD reports 172 active cases, Red Oak ISD reports 165 active cases and Waxahachie ISD reports 288 active cases.
At the moment there aren’t any free COVID-19 testing sites run by Ellis County, but you can get a test at CVS, Walgreens, your primary care physician or purchase an at home test kit at your local pharmacy.