The information on the 85 babies under the age
of 1 was shared at a briefing Friday at Corpus Christi City Hall.
Author: Ashley Gonzalez (KIII), Taylor Alanis, James Ayala Published: 5:01 PM CDT July 17, 2020 Updated: 6:27 PM CDT July 18, 2020
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — According to Nueces
County officials, since Nueces started seeing coronavirus cases in March, 85
babies under the age of 1 have tested positive.
During the local Coronavirus Task Force
briefing on July 17, researchers estimated that 1 in every 8 residents in the
Coastal Bend is actively infected with COVID-19.
As more positive cases are being discovered
across our area, the need for more medical personnel is
also growing.
July 17 also brought over 300 new cases of COVID-19 with
12 deaths. There are now over 7,000 active cases in Nueces County.
"We're in the middle of an outbreak
within an outbreak," Dr. Chris Bird with the Coronavirus Task Force said.
"An outbreak is an increase in the occurrence of disease that's happened
around the world and it's happened here in Texas and it's happened here in the
Coastal Bend a little bit worse than most other places in Texas."
Dr. Bird said fatalities have not peaked
either. With more positive cases of COVID-19 comes more deaths.
"Ask yourself that, 'how many lives is it
worth you saving on average for you to decide to wear a mask?' Dr. Bird said.
"This is the way that COVID works. When you get to such a large number of
cases, it becomes a mathematical exercise unfortunately of how many people are
going to die."
Dr. Bird gave an example to help paint a
picture for the community about how close COVID is.
'"There's more than eight people in the
room. There's a good chance that if we're a random sample in the Coastal Bend,
at least one person in the room has COVID-19 right now."
Dr. Bird said what we're experiencing right
now is the result of our actions from two weeks ago. It's important to practice
healthy habits sooner than later for positive results in the future.
Good news is that from what the task force
predicts, the transmission rate is said to be decreasing based off of tracking
data in cell phones.
"What we're doing now is better than what
we were doing seven to 14 days ago based on our cell phone data, so we have
every reason to believe, the transmission rate is declining," Dr. Bird
said.
Additional Highlights:
·
12 COVID deaths, 310 new coronavirus
cases in Nueces County today.
·
City employee Tammy
Rodriguez Womack from the Parks and Rec Senior Center has died from the virus.
·
There's now space for
40 more ICU beds at Christus Spohn hospital.
·
Over 33,000 tests have
been taken in Nueces County.
·
Transmission rate for
the Coastal Bend is estimated to be 1.3 - 1.4.
For the latest updates on coronavirus in the
Coastal Bend, click here.
More from 3News on KIIITV.com:
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whether students return to school in counties without a local health
authority?
- Dating in the age of the coronavirus pandemic: Get
to know the other person’s day-to-day habits, health
- More than 100 medical personnel have arrived to
local hospitals this week
- Sheriff Hooper: 87 inmates now cleared of the
coronavirus, some jail employees refuse testing
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