Local health officials concerned with holiday gatherings
The number of new COVID-19 cases continued to rise this week as county health officials expressed concern about how the upcoming holidays may further increase the exploding numbers in Wichita County.
Since the Iowa Park Leader is printing a day early due to the Thanksgiving holidays, the report this week will include the numbers reported over the past six days, rather than seven.
From Wednesday through Monday, the Wichita Falls-Wichita County Public Health Unit reported 754 new Covid cases the county, the highest total the Leader has reported since the beginning of the pandemic. The county reported 341 recoveries.
As of Monday evening, 15 Covid-related deaths were reported in Wichita County since Wednesday.
Lou Kreidler, Wichita County Health Director, urged county residents this week to forego traditional Thanksgiving get-togethers in favor of small, household events. “Our numbers continue to increase. People need to do Thanksgiving differently this year, and to give thanks for your family and friends by not seeing them,” Kreidler said Monday. “If they don’t live in your household, don’t have Thanksgiving dinner with them.”
The health department reported five deaths of Wichita County residents Wednesday (Nov. 18); three on Thursday, one on Friday; and six on Monday; bringing the total of Wichita County residents who have died from the novel Coronavirus to 122.
Currently there are 2,458 active cases of COVID in Wichita County.
As of Monday, the number of COVID patients in Wichita County hospitals sat at 79, with fifteen of those in critical condition.
Last Friday evening, the health unit reported that the Iowa Park zip code had 142 active cases, seven percent of those in the county. Of the Iowa Park numbers, nine were listed as inmates at the Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice Allred Unit. The health unit normally totals by zip code each Friday, however with it being a holiday weekend, those numbers will not be released until Monday.
According to last Friday’s report Wichita County listed a 21 percent infection rate of those tested for the week, down nine percent from the previous week.
As of Monday evening, a total of 41,609 Wichita County residents had been tested for COVID-19, with 6,461 of those positive since March 18. Of those, 3,881 have recovered. The number of tests pending Monday evening was 798.
FREE TESTING
Due to the high percentage of cases locally, free drive-through testing is now being offered by WellHealth through the end of the year 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.
Iowa Park CISD
The Iowa Park school district reported Thursday that three Iowa Park High School students had tested positive in unrelated cases, as well as a positive student case at Kidwell Elementary.
Friday, a staff member at W.F. George Middle School was notified they tested positive for COVID-19. All of the cases were classified as low risk exposures.
No school is being held this week in Iowa Park for Thanksgiving break.
The latest information on hospitalizations released by the WFWC Public Health District include:
Total Hospitalizations = 79
0-5
No hospitalizations
6-10
No hospitalizations
11-19
No hospitalizations
20 - 29
Stable - 1
30 - 39
Stable - 3
40 - 49
Stable - 5
Critical - 1
50 - 59
Stable - 7
Critical - 3
60 - 69
Stable - 15
Critical - 8
70 - 79
Stable - 15
Critical - 3
80+
Stable - 18
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
Nov. (thru 11/23) 2,395
Total cases 6,461
“If they don’t live in your household, don’t have Thanksgiving dinner with them.”
– Lou Kreidler, County Health Director
