Texas is seeing the lowest number of active Covid-19 hospitalizations in months, doctors urge for caution for the holidays

Texas – As we are heading into the holiday season, the number of active Covid-19 hospitalizations is the lowest recorded in months and that seems to finally be some good news regarding the pandemic.

According to the most recent data, the current number of active hospitalizations from the deadly virus is at one of the lowest levels since the start of the pandemic, while the number of deaths and new active cases is constantly going down.

What is even more important lately, the vaccines against the virus are finally rolled out for children aged 5-11 which additionally helps the current situations battling the virus as we approach the holiday season and winter months.

The latest Delta wave ended up to be the one of the hardest periods in Texas, but doctors are happy to see the relief after the increasing number of cases. However, doctors urge that we are still far from the end and we have a long way to go to put the whole situation under control.

“People are just kind of happy or relieved that the most recent surge is done with, but I don’t think anybody’s celebrating anything yet,” said Dr. James Castillo, public health authority in Cameron County. In that county, the share of hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients has dropped to 3% percent, down from over 25% during the summer surge.

“We’re certainly in a better place right now than we have been in quite a while,” said Chris Van Deusen, spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services. “But we are sort of starting to see things change again. And you know, if there’s one thing we know about this pandemic, it’s that it’s going to keep changing.”

However, as we approach the winter months and the holidays ahead of us, many people will again start to spend more time indoors increasing the risk of spreading the virus and that’s why health experts believe that we will see another winter Covid-19 wave. But most of them remain positive that the next wave, shouldn’t not bring that much cases as the summer Delta wave because the vaccination rate is increasing constantly.

“We aren’t expecting to see another peak as high as we saw it in late summer, but I think it’s just that we’re kind of watchful and concerned,” Van Deusen said. “As people mix more, it’s an inevitable thing.”

Additionally, experts use every single occasion to express their concerns over the vaccinated hesitant Texans who still remain unvaccinated. According to them, this group of people seems to be exposed to much higher risk to end up in hospital if contract the virus. If we see another wave, experts believe the unvaccinated will once again push the health system and add pressure on their operations.

“Overall, our projections right now are fairly optimistic for the state of Texas,” said Spencer Fox, associate director of the University of Texas COVID-19 Modeling Consortium. “But when we look at the winter, we’re still fairly concerned about what might happen in the future. … Our models suggest that there’s still enough susceptibility in our population to see another pandemic surge if we remove all precautions. I think Thanksgiving will be a lead indicator of what’s to come.”

So far, the situation looks stable, but everyone is strongly advised to get the vaccine as soon as possible, wear masks and maintain social distance. The behavior of the majority of us will most certainly directly affect the results of a potential winter wave.