The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Texas has dropped below 1,000 for the first time since the Department of State Health Services started tracking numbers in April of 2020. On Monday, hospitals across the state had 957 COVID patients, down from a high of 13,371 on January 20th.
In North Texas, hospitals had 190 patients using 1.3% of beds.
"We are in the yellow risk level, so that's good. We haven't been here since the beginning of the pandemic," said Dallas County Health Director Phil Huang.
The yellow risk level is described as "proceed carefully" and is one step ahead of the green level for "new normal until you're vaccinated."
"Hospital occupancy is very low, getting as low as we've seen since the start of the pandemic," Huang said.
The U.S. Senate has reached an agreement on $10 billion in emergency pandemic funding. The money would be used for vaccines, tests, and treatment.
Huang says the measure would allow two testing and vaccination sites to stay open at least through mid-April.
"I know the lack of funding has limited our contractors' ability to keep going, so that's good news," Huang said.
The Department of State Health Services says 76.7% of Texans five and older have received one dose of the vaccine; 64.7% are fully vaccinated.
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