Texas hits 1 million COVID cases after reporting over 10,000 Friday, nears 20,000 deaths
Texas became the first state to surpass a million coronavirus cases on Friday after reporting 10,542 new cases and 173 deaths.
The state leads the nation with 1,004,983 confirmed COVID-19 cases and has reported 19,320 deaths.
Some news organizations reported Texas passed a million cases several days ago based on data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Officially, however, the state hit the million case mark on Friday, according to Texas Department of State Health Services data.
Texas has seen a massive increase in daily cases in November after a gradual increase in October. The single-day record for cases in the state was 10,791 on July 15. Three of the highest single-day totals, however, have come in the past four days, all over 10,000 cases. There are an estimated 137,398 active cases and 850,648 recoveries.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced earlier Friday that the Texas Department of State Health Services is allocating initial shipments of a new monoclonal antibody therapy called bamlanivimab to be distributed as early as next week to acute care hospitals “across every geographic region of the state,” according to a release from Abbott’s office.
The weekly shipments of doses are being provided at no cost through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Abbott said. The drug is for outpatient use for people who have tested positive and who are at increased risk of severe disease.
The distribution of the drug will be based on three criteria, according to the governor: “new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the community, new lab-confirmed COVID-19 admissions to hospitals, and total lab-confirmed COVID-19 patients in hospitals.”
“This initial allotment of bamlanivimab will help health care professionals effectively treat cases of COVID-19 within their communities and aid in reducing hospitalizations,” Abbott said in the release. “I thank the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for providing Texas with this crucial antibody therapy that will help keep Texans safe and mitigate the spread of COVID-19.”
Texas COVID-19 cases over time
Texas daily coronavirus case counts over time, and the ten counties with the most cases. Tap the arrow button to replay the animation.
This story was originally published November 13, 2020 at 4:24 PM.
