COVID Cases Fall, but New Data Shows How Dangerous it Has Been for the Elderly Here

The number of active coronavirus cases continues to fall in Fayette County.

As of Monday morning, Aug. 10, there were 36 confirmed active cases and 20 probable cases, according to the Fayette County Office of Emergency Management. That’s down from a high of 114 active cases and 46 probable cases on July 23.

Precincts 1 and 4 (La Grange and Schulenburg areas) have the highest number of active cases with 15 each. Pct. 2, the Round Top and Fayetteville area, has two active cases. Pct. 3, the Flatonia area, has four active cases.

Fayette County reports that 303 people have recovered from the disease.

Even as the number of active cases have fallen, a new breakdown of local cases by age-range underscores just how dangerous COVID-19 can be to the elderly.

According to Fayette County Emergency Management Chief Craig Moreau, the number of cases for local residents 70-andolder “accounts for only 28% of the local cases, but equals 71% of our total deaths (total deaths are confirmed covid + deaths under investigation).”

Discrepancies between state and local coronavirus numbers emerged in recent weeks as the Texas Department of State Health Services changed the way it counts coronavirus deaths. Instead of relying on local officials for death information, the DSHS said it would count coronavirus deaths only when the cause of death on the patient’s death certificate listed COVID-19.

The State is currently reporting 14 deaths for Fayette County - eight more than what local officials are reporting.

According to Moreau, he can confirm just six people have died due to COVID-19 in Fayette County. All except one of those were people in their 70s or older. One person who died was in their 20s.

Moreau told the Record last week that he believes the State’s number of 14 county deaths is wrong. Last Thursday, DSHS Region 7 sent an email to local officials acknowledging the discrepancy.

“At this time we are not yet able to match our cases with the death certificate data used for reporting fatalities on the DSHS website Dashboard,” the email stated. “We are working on this issue and expect to be able to match the data soon.”

Part of the discrepancy could be due to inmates who died from COVID-19 while incarcerated away from their home counties.

“Fatalities among TDCJ offenders are included in the DSHS website Dashboard if COVID-19 is listed as a cause of death on their death certificate,” the email said.

Local officials, however, may not have information about coronavirus infections among their residents currently incarcerated in other counties.