COVID Making Strong Return to Fayette County

Active coronavirus cases in Fayette County increased by nearly three dozen over the last week. That’s the biggest oneweek increase since the delta variant swept through the County during the summer.

“We’re seeing a big statistical uptick, but not a huge uptick in overall numbers,” said Fayette County Emergency Management Chief Craig Moreau.

According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, active cases went from 42 to 77 between Dec. 22 and Dec. 29. The state figures do not specify which variant of the coronavirus.

Moreau said he has not seen a significant increase in hospitalizations locally or regionally, however.

“It generally takes about two weeks from when you see an increase in cases to when you see an increase in hospitalizations, and we have not seen that so far,” he said. “We have not seen an increase in deaths, either. We’re hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.”

He said all local healthcare facilities have reported new cases, including nursing homes.

“That always worries me, but so far we haven’t seen a large increase in hospitalizations,” he said. “One difference now is that nursing homes are not shipping out their COVID patients like they were before. Other nursing homes aren’t willing to accept new patients. That could change things up a little bit.”

Moreau pointed to some good news from places that have already experienced a spike in the new variant, omicron.

“They’re seeing 90 percent less hospitalizations per capita per infection than they saw with delta and about 50 percent less than they saw with cases as a whole,” Moreau said. “This could be the thing that changes it from totally disrupting our lives when there is a flare up to something more akin to a seasonal cold, which is also a coronavirus.”

Fayette County EMS Director Josh Vandever said his department hasn’t seen a big increase of COVID-related ambulance calls.

“We’re seeing an uptick in cases, but not so much people with severe symptoms,” said Vandever. “But we are getting people who call and say they took a home COVID test and found out they’re positive, and they’re asking what they should do. We’re telling them to contact their primary physician and ask for their recommendation.”

Vandever said official case numbers might not encompass all the people currently infected since many people are taking athome COVID tests.

“It seems like cases are going up, but they’re not being reported through the normal chain, with all the home testing,” he said.

Vandever said three EMS employees were out in the last week after testing positive for COVID. So far, he said it hasn’t affected the department’s ability to provide ambulance services to citizens.

“We’ve been able to fill shifts by using part-time (employees) and overtime,” he said.

Moreau said other county departments are also experiencing staffing problems due to employees who tested positive.

“Every employer in America is dealing with this,” Moreau said.