COVID cases continue slight upward trend

Bandera County Emergency Management announced last Friday 15 new cases of COVID-19 had been reported in the county, up from the previous week’s number of 10.

Statewide, the number of new cases reported in Texas during the past week rose to 47,582, an increase from last week’s number of 46,946.

While no new COVID-19 deaths were reported in the county, deaths increased statewide to 77 this week compared to 42 the previous week, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).

DSHS reported 1,488 lab-confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations, up 27 percent from the previous week.

According to DSHS, there have been 2,626 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the county since 2020 and 1,807 cases.

Meanwhile, the number of workers compensation claims related to COVID-19 claims reached 83,000 last month, with 448 fatalities reported to the Division of Workers’ Compensation.

Just more than half of these claims and fatalities involved first responders and correctional officers.

Most of the claims paid were to compensate people for lost wages.