The City of Laredo and Webb County reported via their online dashboard Friday that the city currently has 53,632 positive cases and 982 deaths historically since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020. And the city also announced new ones. equipment you have purchased that is expected to help detect new variants and mutations.
The update brings Laredo to 132 new positive cases and two deaths that have been reported this week. Some of these likely happened last week, but since the most recent update from the city last week was on Tuesday, the accuracy of the weekly figures suffers.
This skews the numbers a bit, but overall the numbers still show that cases have increased slightly in recent weeks, but overall they have been mostly stable, while other areas of the country have been struggling with the omicron variant.
During the previous seven weeks, the city eclipsed 100 positive cases just once, two weeks ago. Last week it dropped to 74 reported positives, but the lack of dashboard updates for the last three days of the week likely meant the figure was higher, while the three additional days of previously unrecorded data likely means the figure This week's actual is a bit lower.
Active cases have proven quite similar in recent weeks, with 121 in the city as of Friday. He also had 118 on December 7 and 119 on December 1. However, the cases fell to 96 on November 18, the lowest figure reported since June 24, before starting to climb again to the new level it has been at recently. weeks.
This means that Laredo remains at Level 2, or "Yellow," of its own color-coded warning system. This is defined as between 50 and 149 positive cases, indicating that there is a "medium risk" that locals will contract the virus while in public. It has been at this level since November 3, after not reaching that total since July 15.
Laredo's seven-day continuous positivity rate is currently 4.1%. Texas' mobile positivity rate is 9.5%, while that of the United States is 7.1%.
COVID-19 metrics
Positive: 53,632
Deaths: 982
Hospitalizations: 15
ICU: 7
Fully vaccinated: 87.4%
Recoveries: 52,529
Total tested: 455,310
7-day positive rate: 4.1%
Source: Laredo Health Department.
Hospitalizations are down a bit this week, from 17 last week to 15 now. This is still higher than 13 last week and nine last week. Of these, seven are serious cases with these patients in the ICU, also four less than in the last report.
The city announced that there have been 1,753 breakthrough cases in total, one person with a positive case who was fully vaccinated, with 103 of those people hospitalized and 22 dying. The city's first major public vaccine campaign took place on January 2 in TAMIU. Since then, there have been 24,846 cases and 451 deaths locally of people who were not fully vaccinated.
COVID-19 hospitalization in Laredo has fallen this week to 2.9%, according to the most recent data on Friday from the Texas Department of State Health Services. A few weeks ago, the city hit a low of 1.6% on November 17, its lowest rate on record by DSHS dating back to mid-April 2020, but had risen to 4.3% from a week ago. . This last number has been modified during the week, since it stood at 4.8% last week.
Laredo's current rate places the area No. 6 out of 22 medical regions in the state, giving it one of the best numbers in the state. The lowest figures correspond to San Angelo (1.5%) and Victoria (1.9%) while the highest are Amarillo (19.3%), El Paso (17.8%) and Lubbock (11.2 %).
Laredo's hospital capacity issues that have plagued it throughout the pandemic remain as the city, despite the success of COVID, has only 11 beds available as of Friday with only two other state hospital regions below triple digits in Bryan / College Station (78) and Waco (81). Meanwhile, the area also has only five ICU beds available, although that's more than one in the previous four days.
Because Laredo is under-staffed and understaffed, its hospital capacity has declined despite falling far short of its previous peak of 249 hospitalizations in January, when it was receiving state aid. But state assistance is not enough to make a big dent in the capacity of the Laredo hospital, which is why local experts continue to promote vaccination as vital, even despite the area's success in that regard, as its current Lack of resources has reduced that success.
The City of Laredo stated that approximately 87.4% of the total eligible population has been fully vaccinated. This figure is slightly lower than about a month ago, as the population aged 5-11 years began to be included instead of just over 12 years old. The panel does not provide the exact number of people who are fully vaccinated or the totals who are partially vaccinated. As for the elderly, the city reports that 92.1% of people over 65 are fully vaccinated.
Laredo officials have stated that its eligible population figures are based on U.S. Census data, and due to the city's past of having an undercounted population, a true 100% figure may be more difficult to determine. identify.
Over the course of the pandemic, 455,310 tests have been administered. An estimated 52,529 people have recovered from a previous infection.
New technology acquired for variants
The city also announced late Thursday that it had acquired new technology that will help it detect COVID-19 variants.
The city said it has acquired an Ion Torrent Genexus integrated sequencer, a next-generation sequencer that will help detect new variants and mutations in viruses such as SARS-CoV-2. According to a statement, this sequencer can detect any pathogens (bacteria, fungi and viruses), making it relevant in various disciplines of medical laboratories, as the technology can read and evaluate a variety of DNA data efficiently.
The city goes on to say that the technology also improves workflow by improving the reproducibility of results and increasing the efficiency of work performed in laboratories.
"The City of Laredo Health Department is committed to serving the Laredo and South Texas communities," Laredo Health Department Chief of Laboratory Services Raúl Soto said in a statement. "Having access to this sequencer allows the health department to better serve patients by identifying not only possible variants of COVID-19, but also other pathogens." Richard A. Chamberlain, DrPH, MPH, RS, Director of Health, shared his enthusiasm for bringing this new innovation to Laredo: “We are the first in South Texas to acquire this technology that will not only benefit our community but the entire community. South Texas region. "
The city continues to assert that the key benefits of the next-generation sequencer are identifying variants of concern, increasing epidemiological surveillance, and detecting and isolating people with public health concerns.
The device will be ready in January 2022.
zdavis@lmtonline.com
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