New confirmed COVID-19 cases in Matagorda County show a steady climb over December, according to the State Department of Health Services (DSHS).
Matagorda Regional Medical Center (MRMC) is seeing more patients testing positive.
“In the past weeks we’ve had as many as two COVID-19 patients in the hospital at once,” said MRMC spokesman Tiffany Foltyn.
“While our hospitalized numbers have remained low, we have noticed an increase in the number of patients testing positive, but not requiring hospitalization,” Foltyn said.
One DSHS indicator showing the increase in new cases is the county’s per capita rate of 1.6 cases per 1,000 residents, with 58 new cases reported in the past 14 days.
That compares to 0.9 cases per 1,000 and 33 new cases reported in the previous 14 days Dec. 2, and 0.7 cases per 1,000 and 24 new cases in the prior 14 days on Nov. 18.
There have been 162 deaths in Matagorda County from COVID-19, DSHS data shows.
As of Dec. 18, 19.1 million people have received at least one dose of vaccine, which is 65.4% of Texas’ population, and 16.3 million people, or 55.9%, are fully vaccinated.
In Matagorda County, 45% of its residents are fully vaccinated, while 52.5% have received at least one dose. With the exception of Jackson County all of Matagorda County’s neighboring counties have higher vaccination rates.
Overall, DSHS reports for Matagorda County show a total of 5,125 confirmed cases, 1,083 probable cases, 71 active cases and 5,976 recovered.
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