As COVID trends down, Tarrant health officials urge you to stay home for Labor Day
With Labor Day approaching, Tarrant County officials warned Tuesday that the public must avoid large gatherings and keep celebrations within an immediate family setting to avoid a spike of coronavirus cases.
At Tuesdays Commissioners Court meeting, Vinny Taneja, the county’s public health director, told the court that the county’s key COVID-19 statistics continue to trend downward, but again, it’s no time to relax, especially with the holiday coming up.
Hospitalizations in the county continue to go down with 5% of all occupied hospital beds being used by COVID-19 patients, according to county data. This number is down from the peak of 20% the county reported a month ago.
The positivity rate is at 9%, and it has been for the past week, Taneja said. It needs to be down to 5%, he said. Officials have said the downward trend is because of the mask mandate.
One of the most common factors for new cases are family gatherings, he said.
“Stay home,” he said. “Enjoy with your individual family.”
County Judge Glen Whitley shared the same concerns as Taneja, saying that if the county could get past Labor Day without a spike in cases he would revisit the mask mandate order that is in effect until Nov. 30. Whitley can rescind the order when he deems fit.
“We may be near the point of flattening this thing,” Whitley said.
Schools reopening
During his presentation to commissioners, Taneja brought up TCU’s COVID-19 case numbers which have climbed past 400 since students were allowed on campus earlier this month.
He said if the outbreak continues, the county’s downward curve could go back up.
“The potential is there for all of this work that has been done throughout the summer to be undone,” Taneja said.
He said universities need to be careful and make sure safety guidelines are being followed.
Whitley said he hopes TCU doesn’t close dorms and send students back because that poses a risk to their parents and grandparents. TCU officials said last week they had no plan of halting in-person classes.
Whitley said students need to understand they have a personal responsibility and need to abide by the mitigation efforts put forth by the university to control the spread.
“These kids believe they’re invincible, and that they can go out and do whatever they please,” Whitley said.
Regarding grade schools, Taneja said no district in the county is ready for in-person classes, and that the positivity rate in the county needs to be at 5% for in-person classes to be safe.
Mask protest
Several people protested the mask mandate outside the Tarrant County administration building before and during the commissioners meeting. Inside, the courtroom was packed with people ready to speak about the mandate.
For about an hour, residents spoke against the mandate. Most said was an infringement of their rights and the First Amendment.
In a press conference after the meeting, Whitley said he understands that the masks are an inconvenience but they’re necessary to avoid shutting down the economy. For Whitley, it’s either signing off on the mask mandate or shutting down businesses.
And so far, he said the downward data indicates that mask wearing is working.
West Nile
The county is reporting 12 human cases of West Nile virus and three deaths. Seven of the 12 cases are in northeast Tarrant County, where the mosquito positivity rate is 50%, a high number, he said. For the county, the mosquito positivity rate is at 20%.
What’s worrying for Taneja is that a lot of the human cases are resulting in a neuroinvasive disease, which can have lingering effects on a person’s nervous system.
Taneja believes there could be under-reporting because of COVID-19. Some people might be testing negative for COVID and believe they’re OK and not getting tested for West Nile.
Taneja continues to advise the public to wear long sleeves and pants, use bug spray and spray their backyards.
He said cities have been spraying consistently and his department is still seeing if aerial spraying will be necessary.
