October COVID cases more than all previous months
COVID-19 continues to concern Wichita County officials and residents as the numbers of active infections, hospitalizations and deaths continue to sharply rise here over the past month.
With 618 new cases of the novel Coronavirus confirmed in Wichita County in the past week, it brings the total new infections in October to 1,880, more than the previous seven months combined.
“The number of individuals we continue to see in the hospital is increasing,” said Wichita County Health Director Lou Kreidler. “The patients we are seeing are sicker than what we saw before,” she continued, noting the increase in deaths and critical cases.
The Wichita Falls-Wichita County Public Health Unit reported eight additional COVID deaths in the past week, bringing the total number of COVID-19 deaths in Wichita County since March 18 to 38.
Tuesday evening , the health unit reported a total of 1,361 active cases in the county. In addition, the record number of hospitalizations and infections have United Regional Healthcare’s COVID care units increasingly strained. As of Tuesday the number of COVID patients have risen from 54 Wichita County residents to 74 in the past week, 36 of those in critical condition.
A total of 379 recoveries were recorded in the last week as well.
Last Friday evening, the health unit reported that the Iowa Park zip code had 71 active cases, or six percent of those in the county. Of the Iowa Park numbers, four were listed as inmates at the Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice Allred Unit. The health unit releases totals by zip code each Friday, and the Iowa Park Leader posts the results each week to social media so local residents can be informed more quickly. According to last Friday’s report Wichita County listed a 30 percent infection rate of those tested for the week.
“If we don’t begin to take the precautions and limit our activities then we will continue to see an increase through the end of the year,” Kreidler said. “At some point, we’ve got to take personal responsibility and limit our interactions with others to prevent the spread.”
As of Tuesday evening, a total of 30,414 Wichita County residents had been tested for COVID-19, with 3,752 of those positive since March 18. Of those, 2,353 have recovered. The number of tests pending was 870 as of Tuesday evening.
Iowa Park CISD
Monday, the Iowa Park CISD was notified by the health department of a case where a student tested positive for COVID-19 at the Iowa Park High School campus. The case was classified as a low risk to the campus.
The latest information on hospitalizations released by the WFWC Public Health District include:
Total Hospitalizations = 74
Ages 0-5
No hospitalizations
6-10
No hospitalizations
11-19
No hospitalizations
20 - 29
Stable - 1
30 - 39
Stable - 1
Critical - 1
40 - 49
Stable - 3
Critical - 1
50 - 59
Stable - 5
Critical - 3
60 - 69
Stable - 10
Critical - 18
70 - 79
Stable - 9
Critical - 7
80+
Stable - 9
Critical - 6
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 (thru 10/20) 1,880
Total cases reported 3,752
As a reminder the Health District COVID hotline is 940-761-7909. The hotline hours are Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm. Please use the hotline for all COVID related questions.
