COVID numbers continue drop
While the Iowa Park Leader traditionally reports the COVID-19 numbers from Wednesday through Tuesday for each week’s issue, the past week’s bizarre winter weather conditions and electrical blackouts have affected the release of numbers.
This week, we will only be reporting numbers from Wednesday to Friday of last week, Feb. 10-12, and resume to normal reporting in next week’s issue.
In that time frame, Wichita County reported 89 new positive cases, and 242 recoveries.
In addition four Covid-related deaths were reported, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 306.
Some 30 hospitalizations of Wichita County residents were reported as of Friday with three of those reported to be in critical condition.
Vaccinations
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, the Wichita Falls-Wichita County Public Health District, was the only provider in Wichita County to reveive vaccinations this week.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services website 16,934 Wichita County residents have had at least one dose of the COVID vaccine, and 8,674 are fully vaccinated.
Weekly overview
Each Friday the health district releases an overview of active cases in the county by zip code. Iowa Park last week had 27 active cases as of last Friday, which accounted for seven percent of the active cases in the county. The same week tallied a total of 412 active cases in the county, with a 8.03 percent positivity rate among those tested.
As of Friday evening a total of 85,864 Wichita County residents had been tested for COVID-19, with 14,358 of those positive since March 18, 2020. Of those, 13,640 have recovered. The number of tests pending Friday evening was 18.
FREE TESTING CONTINUES
Due to the high percentage of cases locally, free drive-through testing is now being offered by WellHealth indefinitely in the parking lot of the MPEC Center in Wichita Falls. The hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday; and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
Wichita County New Covid Cases by Month (First case reported here March 18)
March 38
April 27
May 19
June 279
July 539
August 422
September 548
October 2,194
November 3,054
December 3,927
January 2,872
(Thru Feb. 12) 439
Total cases reported 14,358
