COVID-19: Lubbock reports new cases, one additional death last week

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - The City of Lubbock confirmed 88 new cases of COVID-19 and one death for Tuesday, May 18, through Monday, May 24. In the same timeframe, there were 102 recoveries. There are now 131 active cases, 48,416 listed as recovered, and 729 total deaths. Yesterday’s COVID-19 hospitalization percentage was 3.31%.

As of 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 18, 2021, the City of Lubbock confirmed 18 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and 16 recoveries.

As of 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, the City of Lubbock confirmed 19 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and 44 recoveries.

As of 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 20, 2021, the City of Lubbock confirmed 22 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and 2 recoveries.

As of 4:00 p.m. on Friday, May 21, 2021, the City of Lubbock confirmed 6 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and 14 recoveries.

As of 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 22, 2021, the City of Lubbock confirmed 8 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and 14 recoveries.

As of 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 23, 2021, the City of Lubbock confirmed 5 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19), 12 recoveries and one additional death.

As of 4:00 p.m. on Monday, May 24, 2021, the City of Lubbock confirmed 10 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19).

RELATED LINK: City of Lubbock COVID-19 Dashboard

The City is no longer reporting open hospital beds and patients holding for beds as part of its daily COVID-19 data update, saying hospitals are returning to normal operations, and this data is no longer indicative of current hospital capacity.

According to Governor Abbott’s Executive Order, the region must stay below 15% hospitalization for businesses to remain open at current capacity.

NOTE: Please note, the City of Lubbock will no longer be updating COVID numbers on the weekend. We’ll catch you up with everything on Monday.

Explanation of Hospital Bed Numbers

Note that this reflects staffed beds open to receive patients and differs from the available bed count shown on the DSHS and the City of Lubbock dashboards. These dashboards count all available beds, including specialty beds, such as pediatrics, PICU, outpatient, psychiatric and others, as well as hospitalized patients in the 22 county Trauma Service Area.

Explanation of Shutdown Measures

According to Governor Abbott’s Executive Order GA-32, all restaurants, retail stores, office buildings, manufacturing facilities, gyms, exercise facilities and classes, museums, and libraries in all counties in Trauma Service Area B would be required to return to maximum 50 percent occupancy levels, except in any county that separately qualifies for the greater occupancy levels because it has minimal cases of COVID-19 under the Department of State Health Services attestation process.

Additionally, all licensed hospitals in the Trauma Service Area would be required to discontinue elective surgeries.

The order would remain in place until such time as Trauma Service Area B has seven consecutive days in which the number of COVID-19 hospitalized patients as a percentage of total hospital capacity is 15 percent or less.

Additional information can be found at the Texas Department of State Health Services website at: https://txdshs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/0d8bdf9be927459d9cb11b9eaef6101f

You can see more detail on the Executive Order here: https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/EO-GA-32_continued_response_to_COVID-19_IMAGE_10-07-2020.pdf

RELATED LINK: City of Lubbock COVID-19 Dashboard

RELATED LINK: State of Texas COVID-19 Dashboard

COVID-19 Reporting from Texas Tech

Texas Tech University and the City of Lubbock issued a joint statement to clarify how positive Coronavirus cases at the university are reported and counted in the overall Lubbock County case count:

“The City of Lubbock Health Department is the authoritative source for the official COVID-19 case count for Lubbock County. Positive test results from Texas Tech University are reported to the Health Department daily, and are made available on the university’s COVID-19 dashboard daily. However, due to the constant efforts to reconcile data accurately, Texas Tech’s numbers may not be reflected in the Health Department/City of Lubbock’s case count the same day they are reported, which leads to different reporting numbers. The Texas Tech positive case numbers will always be included in the official Lubbock County case count, but ONLY after necessary information is carefully gathered and properly vetted.”

COVID-19 Relief Funds

The City and partner organizations, are using the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) to help citizens directly impacted financially by the COVID-19 pandemic. The programs available include: Rental, mortgage and utility assistance as well as daycare assistance. For more information, call the Community Development Department at 775.2296, or go to mylubbock.us/communitydevelopment

Other South Plains Cases

<a href="https://www.kcbd.com/2020/04/04/hockley-county-reporting-new-covid-cases-bringing-total/" target=_blank><b>Hockley County</b></a>