CORONAVIRUS INFO PROVIDED BY DR. JIM HARRIS – 5/21/2020

Smith County coronavirus cases increased by three Wednesday for an active case count of 49, according to the Northeast Texas Public Health District.

Total confirmed positive cases in Smith County are at 195.

In Smith County, there are 49 active coronavirus cases, 142 recovered patients and four coronavirus deaths.

Tyler hospitals are currently treating 24 patients from East Texas for the coronavirus.

Of the 195 cases, 161 are in Tyler, nine in Flint, six in Whitehouse, six in Lindale, four in Troup, two in Bullard, two in Overton, two in Arp and one each in Hideaway, Winona and rural Smith County near Mineola.

One hundred and sixty-two cases are a result of community spread and 33 are travel-related.

Here is the breakdown of cases:

• 0-20, 14 cases

• 21-40, 74 cases

• 41-59, 61 cases

• 80 and over, 4 cases

Of the 195 cases, 100 are men and 95 are women.

Tyler hospitals are currently treating 24 patients from East Texas for the coronavirus. Some of those patients may not reside in Smith County.

Through May 18, a total of 3,418 tests were performed on patients from Smith County.

PLEASE STUDY THE SMITH COUNTY (TYLER) DATA ABOVE. THESE ARE NOT JUST A BUNCH OF OLD FOLKS OR NURSING HOME PATIENTS WHO ARE POSITIVE FOR COVID 19 OR PATIENTS UNDERGOING TREATMENT IN A HOSPITAL. MOST OF THESE POSITIVE TESTEES ARE WALKING AROUND IN TOWN AND MANY ARE WORKING. 135 OF THE CASES ARE UNDER 60. ALL AGE GROUPS NEED TO TAKE PREVENTATIVE MEASURES….IF YOU ARE GETTING AROUND, YOU NEED TO STAY AWAY FROM GRANDMA. THERE ARE ESTIMATES THAT THERE ARE 40 CARRIERS WHO ARE UNTESTED FOR EVERY POSITIVE TEST OBTAINED. MAYBE MORE? BE CAREFUL THE PANDEMIC IS NOT OVER.

 MARSHALL HAS A HIGHER PROPORTION OF ILLNESS AND POSITIVE TESTS THAN SMITH COUNTY DOES.

Swimming during the pandemic: What the CDC wants you to know before you hit the pool

Hospitals in four East Texas counties, including Harrison, to receive remdesivir to treat COVID-19

FROM THE HOUSTON PAPER: Using cellphone data, national study predicts huge June spike in Houston coronavirus cases

Houston is one of several cities in the South that could see spikes in COVID-19 cases over the next four weeks as restrictions are eased, according to new research that uses cellphone data to track how well people are social distancing.

The updated projection, from PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, found that traffic to non-essential businesses has jumped especially in Texas and Florida, which have moved aggressively to reopen.

America’s Patchwork Pandemic Is Fraying Even Further    JHarris: Medically, this article is sound and VERY important and worth reading carefully. You don’t have to agree with the author’s political or sociological opinions.  His explanation about the timing and patterns of disease spread in the U.S. is proving to be very accurate, and I agree with him.  Incidentally, were I young and unemployed, I’d learn how to track medical cases, and when I got good at it, I’d start my own tracking company — like the “Danile Boone and Sam Spade Trackers, LLC.”

  “—The patchwork is not static. Next month’s hot spots will not be the same as last month’s. The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is already moving from the big coastal cities where it first made its mark into rural heartland areas that had previously gone unscathed. People who only heard about the disease secondhand through the news will start hearing about it firsthand from their family. “Nothing makes me think the suburbs will be spared—it’ll just get there more slowly,” says Ashish Jha, a public-health expert at Harvard…..“It’s inevitable that we’ll see stark increases in infections in the next weeks,” says Oscar Alleyne of the National Association of County and City Health Officials. The experiences of other countries support that view. Success stories like South Korea, China, Singapore, and Lebanon all had to renew or extend social-distancing measures to deal with new bursts of cases. And they had all restrained the virus to a much greater extent than the U.S., which despite having just 4 percent of the world’s population has 31 percent of its confirmed COVID-19 cases (1.5 million) and 28 percent of its confirmed deaths (92,000)…..The better strategy is not to try and prevent the virus from traveling, but to build a public-health system nimble enough to catch it when it arrives. Don’t build one big wall; instead, ready a thousand nets….

AND NOW FOR SOME GOOD NEWS:

BEAUTIFUL DOWNTOWN NEW YORK    Thanks to Edmund Burton

COLLINS PUN FOR THE DAY: She was only a whiskey – maker, but he loved her still.