Officials in Denton County say for once, the COVID-19 statistics are encouraging.
Hospital occupancy is declining, which Denton County Public Health Director Matt Richardson says is great news.
"We've talked about hospital inpatient capacity and hospital infrastructure as a key component of maintaining our response as a community," Richardson says. "And that is improving."
In addition to the positive numbers, County Judge Andy Eads says the county's vaccination process has been incredibly smooth … and it's picking up speed.
"We've established our credibility amongst our state partners," Eads said during today's Commissioners Court meeting. "We've told them that whatever they send us, we will get it out the door in a timely manner; we will not disappoint. And we've done exactly that."
As of today, the county has more than 21,600 doses of both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. Richardson says the goal is to administer about 10,000 shots this week, and if all goes well they'll be doing the same thing next week.
[shortcode-inline-related expand="1" link="/krld/news/local/dr-fauci-we-need-to-do-better-with-vaccine-distribution" headline="At Dallas conference, Dr. Fauci says "we need to do better" with vaccine distribution" image="/media-library/image.jpg?id=64125581"]"We're giving them as fast as we can get them," Richardson says. "This week is going to be quite a push for us. We're going to do as many as possible."
Richardson says the Texas Department of Emergency Management is taking over the county's COVID-19 testing at University of North Texas Discovery Park. He says the partnership is making it easier for Denton County to focus on immunizations.
For more information about COVID-19 statistics, testing and vaccine distribution in Denton County, click here.
