COVID-19 hospitalizations have dipped from their most recent peak in Tarrant County, but Judge Glen Whitley says healthcare workers are still burnt out. Tarrant County Public Health says hospitals now have 978 patients.
COVID-19 patients are still using 23% of capacity, and the seven day average in Tarrant County is still above 1,000 patients.
"We need to do everything we can. Get vaccinated, that's the first thing. Wear masks and avoid large crowds," Whitley says. "[Doctors and nurses] are just worn out. We had a CEO of one of the hospitals who put on the gear and was changing sheets last week."
Health Director Vinny Taneja says he hopes indicators of the virus' spread will "sync up" to show reduced transmission. Over the past two weeks, he says "some evidence" has shown case numbers may start to slow down.
Taneja says the positivity rate has "plateaued" around 22%, and the case rate has started to drop.
"Hopefully, all the indicators are going to sync up here soon, and we'll start to see some slowdown," he says.
Taneja says the number of deaths has remained high since those would trail the most recent surge. He says national trends have not shown evidence of a slow-down, either.
"Nationally, we're spiking quite hard. It's really concentrated in the southern United States," he says, saying a CDC call Monday revealed 98% of cases are now the Delta variant.
With the FDA granting full approval of the Pfizer vaccine, Taneja says he hopes more people will choose to get vaccinated.
"I'm not quite sure why the public was worried about it under emergency use authorization, but okay, here we are with a full approval," he says.
Taneja says he hopes vaccination rates will increase as more kids head back to school and college. In Tarrant County, he says 27% of kids aged 12-15 are fully vaccinated; 38% of those 16-24 are fully vaccinated.
"Parents have listened. The data increases as the age increases. People are actually listening to the science, following the science, getting vaccinated," Taneja says. "It's the younger crowd who seems to be, 'Eh, what COVID?'"
Across Texas, the Department of State Health Services says 55.7% of people 12 and older are fully vaccinated; 76% of people 65 and older are fully vaccinated.
Hospitals across the state reported 13,346 COVID-19 patients Monday, an increase of 1,537 over the past week and the highest number since January 20.
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