CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Some positive news from Gov. Greg Abbott Friday, as Texas ranks second in the number of recovered COVID-19 patients.
So far, Driscoll Children’s Hospital has been fortunate, they haven’t had a confirmed patient case of COVID-19. Doctors there believe that’s because public precautions are working.
Friday the Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Heath District reported no new cases, keeping the county’s count as 72. Doctors call that an encouraging statistic.
“It’s increasing, but in a very modest number,” said Dr. Jaime Fergie, Director of Infectious Disease at Driscoll Children’s Hospital. “The information we have from the local hospitals is that they’re not being overwhelmed.”
None of those 72 local cases have been fatal, but questions about who’s still sick have a new stat from the state.
“That is the number of people who have been categorized as recovered,” said Abbott.
The Public Health District reports seven local cases have recovered. Statewide, more than 1,350, the second most in the nation.
“The key thing that we focus on every day here is strategies on how we can minimize the loss of life,” said Abbott.
While the local numbers have been encouraging, doctors stress the need for more testing.
“It would be ideal if us here at Driscoll and the other local hospitals would be able to do tests,” said Fergie. “That would give us a much better idea of how the pandemic is doing here locally.”
Local, state, and national data suggest the curve is flattening, but doctors warn against relaxing guidelines too soon.
“I will just wait a little bit more, maybe or or two weeks to have a better idea of what’s going to happen here,” said Fergie.
Doctors believe we’re about ten days from the peak of the pandemic in the U.S. That can change, however, depending on how cautious people stay.