Restrictions slowed COVID-19 in Fort Worth, but loosening may lead to surge, study finds
A study has found that Tarrant County’s stay-at-home and social distancing orders were effective in “slowing transmission” of the coronavirus.
But the study, conducted by the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth concludes that the lifting of pandemic restrictions on May 1 could undo much of that success.
“With the lifting of many of the mandated restrictions starting May 1, it remains to be seen how effective the more limited social-distancing measures are,” Dr. Rajesh Nandy said in a press release announcing the study’s findings.
Nandy, the associate professor of biostatistics and epidemiology, conducted the analysis.
“We may be in the third inning of a nine-inning game,” Dr. Dennis Thombs, dean of the School of Public Health Dean, said in the release. “The final local outcomes are dependent upon the practices we adopt going forward. Increased mobility creates risk that new cases will surge.”
HSC studied data from Tarrant County Public Heath, the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council and the Johns Hopkins University Corona Virus Resource Center.
The study found Tarrant County has an adequate amount of hospital beds, intensive care beds and ventilators for the “near future.”
Nandy said the HSC will continue to monitor the transmission of COVID-19 “to identify a future surge in the number of cases,” since the mandated restrictions have been lifted.
The report found that the infection rate in Tarrant County as of Monday was 1.4 per 1,000 people.
This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 4:19 PM.
