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New Increase In COVID Cases In North Texas

As news arrives of a new wave of cases in China, North Texas reported over 1,000 hospitalizations
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According to the most recent CDC data, a subvariant of omicron called XBB.1.5 is responsible for 41% of cases in the country as we experience a spike in COVID-19 cases following the holiday season. Data from the Texas Department of Health Services show that North Texas has over 1,000 hospitalizations for the first time since February 2022. 

At the end of December 2022, global concern over a new surge in COVID-19 cases in China caused many countries to request COVID tests from travelers arriving from the eastern country. 

Dr. Shan-Lu Liu, who studies viruses at Ohio State University, told to AP News that the variant BF.7 is believed to be driving the current wave of cases in China. While the new surge China is experiencing now could be the effect of a different variant than the XBB.1.5 that the CDC recorded in America, experts worry about China not sharing information quickly enough. 

“Right now the pandemic situation in China is not transparent,” Wang Pi-Sheng, the head of Taiwan’s epidemic command center, told The Associated Press. “We have a very limited grasp on its information and it’s not very accurate.”

In North Texas, according to WFAA Trauma Service Area E, which comprises 19 counties including Collin County, reported it currently has a 14-day average of 766 hospitalizations.

The two counties with the most reported deaths are Tarrant with 31, surpassing February 2022’s spike, when 12 deaths were reported and Dallas county with 42.

In December, the Texas Department of State Health Services’ data showed that there were 9 new deaths related to COVID in Collin County, getting closer to the last spike in February 2022, when the rate reached 7 daily death on average.

At a time when hospitals are experiencing high demand due to several simultaneous respiratory illnesses, caution is of the essence. Tarrant County Public Health is recommending residents wear masks again as the COVID-19 community level changed to high.