Central Texas health officials cautiously celebrate milestone of decline in COVID-19

WACO, Texas (KWTX) -Back in January, more than 2,000 cases were reported in a single day in McLennan County. Tuesday, the dashboard showed two new cases, two hospitalizations, and no deaths have been recorded this month.

“Over the past 6 to 8 weeks, our numbers in the hospitals are very low right now so that’s encouraging,” Dr. Tresa McNeal with Baylor Scott & White said.

“We can be about usual business and usual things patients need us for.”

Friday, Ascension Providence recorded a huge milestone of no people in the hospital for COVID-19 for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.

“We are now at historically low levels,” Dr. Farley Verner, an infectious disease specialist with Ascension Providence, said.

Officials say these historic lows could be in part because of the historically high levels we saw.

“Omicron when it came through here and because it was so contagious, it seems like it came through our communities, and right now our communities have a lot of immunities it seems,” Dr. McNeal said.

But COVID is not gone. With flu cases higher than usual this time of year and COVID cases still popping up in small numbers, testing and checking with your physician is how experts say we can help keep numbers down.

“The potential future problem is the Omicron subvariant and that’s what’s giving other countries trouble right now,” Dr. Verner said.

Vigilance is key so we can keep threat levels low.

It is recommended that if you come into contact with someone who has covid is to mask up for 10 days because doctors say we don’t know right away if you have contracted COVID.

Also, vaccines are continuing to develop and it’s not too late to get vaccinated or boosted.

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