The year started off with a terrible wave of COVID-19 cases and, unfortunately, that's also how it's going to end. KRLD's Barbara Schwarz takes a look at COVID in Texas in 2021.
14,000 Texans were hospitalized with the virus at the start of 2021 and about 300 Texans were dying every day but there was hope, the vaccine was here. As of the first, nearly 300,000 Texans had gotten their first shot from a supply of 773,000 doses.
The Baylor College of Medicine's Dr. Peter Hotez said with 30 million Texans, we needed 25 million vaccinated by summer or fall.
"That come out of to be about 100,000 Texans a day, and I'm really concerned that we just don't have that kind of infrastructure right now to meet that kind of benchmark," Hotez said.
By the second week of January, some 600,000 Texans in the A group, healthcare workers and longterm care residents, have gotten their first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine and thousands more have been fully vaccinated, with Texans aged 65 and up next on the list.
Cases declined through January. But by then, the more contagious U.K. or Alpha variant started to make it's mark. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said: "This variant has the potential to throw jet fuel on an already dangerous situation."
Case rates dropped in February. Dr. Hotez saw little reason for optimism.
"I'm calling that the eye of the hurricane. Even though things are looking a little better right now, the backside is coming and I'm extremely worried," Hotez said.
Even as the Alpha variant took hold, cases plunged in the spring prompting Governor Greg Abbott to say: "It is now time to open the state 100 percent."
The state's mask mandate ended on March 10th, and all businesses were allowed to operate at full capacity.
The state opened vaccines to everyone 16 and up on March 29. By the second week of April, close to nine million people had gotten at least one dose. The state subsequently started an ad campaign as well in English and Spanish.
12 to 15 year olds became eligible for the vaccines in May, but vaccination rates slowed down and then the Delta variant hit. Infections soared by the end of July.
Dr. Joseph Change, Chief Medical Officer at Parkland Hospital in Dallas said: "The folks who have had natural immunity to the first variant now are finding that they're still pretty susceptible to this Delta variant."
And too many Texan refused to get the shots.
Dr. David Persse, the City of Houston's chief medical officer said: "Hospitals right now are full. The emergency departments are holding as many as 30 admissions in some hospitals waiting for beds upstairs that simply don't exist right now."
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner opted to reinstate a mask mandate which went against the governor's order which banned any mandates.
Zeph Capo president of the Teachers Union Texas Alliance AFT said their teachers want the decision decided by district.
"Our government systems are supposed to be in place to keep the population safe, and we just don't think that Texas government systems are working to meet that goal," Capo said.
In September, President Joe Biden issued a plan mandating workers at businesses with a 100 or more employees get vaccinated or face weekly testing. Dr. Hotez says there's only so much the president can do and we need local leaders to buy in.
"Unfortunately we've got this very destructive self-defeating 'health freedom' movement across many of the Southern states that started here in Texas that's taking so many lives," Capo said.
That plan is still being challenged in court, and lawsuits over mask mandates continue.
Later in the year, children aged five and up were eligible for the vaccine. And then came a new highly mutated variant.
Dr, Paul Klotman, the President and CEO of the Baylor College of Medicine said: "Omicron is here. I'm hoping that people will be scared enough to go ahead and get vaccinated, because they don't apparently listen to data. Please, just get vaccinated."
Omicron is now the dominant strain. More than 74,400 Texans have lost their lives to COVID-19. Dr. Hotez said: "This is the worst single human tragedy that's ever occurred in the state of Texas. It's just so profoundly sad. These last two years have been horrible."
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow NewsRadio 1080 KRLD