COVID-19 - Community Health 

June 22, 2020

AS OF JUNE 22ND, 2020 - EVENING

County Leaders,

I will keep this one short, but feel compelled to send a quick update. I know we are all having COVID-fatigue. But I wanted to share today’s update below from the Texas Hospital Association as a reminder we remain in a pandemic. We have seen a significant uptick during the last week in positive cases from our drive-through testing in Bridgeport. Fortunately, this uptick has not yet translated to a significant increase in hospital admissions of positive patients, and we are, therefore, still in good shape locally with respect to hospital capacity. But the spike in cases throughout the state and locally has WHS leadership increasingly concerned about the ability to maintain that capacity long-term if we do not, as a county, continue to minimize the spread. I know this isn’t a popular opinion, but WHS continues to emphasize the need to minimize, postpone, or cancel large social gatherings and events where implementation of social distancing and other measures are not possible.

As always, please feel free to call with any questions.

THA Statement on Hospitalizations, Gov. Abbott’s Comments

In light of the recent increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations and the governor’s comments this afternoon, THA issued a statement encouraging the public to continue personal precautions, including masking public and social distancing, to prevent the spread of COVID-19. At his press conference today, Gov. Abbott acknowledged that COVID-19 is spreading in Texas at an unacceptable rate and encouraged social distancing, hand hygiene, use of face coverings and other precautions to help keep Texans safe and businesses open. He noted that if new cases and hospitalizations continue to spike, additional measures may be necessary to ensure the public’s safety. John Zerwas, MD, chief medical advisor for the governor’s strikeforce to open Texas, noted that they are in close contact with Texas hospital leaders through THA’s hospital capacity huddles.

Best regards,

Jason Wren, FACHE

President & CEO

609 Medical Center Drive

Decatur, Texas 76234

(940) 626-8671 – direct

Texas Cases as of 6/22/2020

Wise County Cases as of 6/18/2020