E.C. COVID numbers lacking real value

ELLIS COUNTY – While it is easy to throw out numbers about COVID, unfortunately the Ellis County website is still woefully lacking in numbers of any real value.

Fortunately, the Texas Education Agency COVID-19 data/Texas COVID-19 (DSHS dashboard) data regarding Ellis County hospital data is listed at the website for some general information.

Ellis County Judge Todd Little, currently recovering from his own bout with COVID-19, did return phone calls, but calls on both sides were missed by Little and The Ellis County Press follow-up.

Currently, the Ellis County hospital Medsurg plan has been initiated to accommodate additional patients, and it is still uncertain how many patients are being diverted to county hospitals elsewhere.

It is also not being recorded how many COVID cases are not in hospital, but recovering at home.

In Ellis County, the hospital reported COVID-19 information as of Sept. 14 states there have been 257,376 accumulative tests administered.

The hospitals in Ellis County have a bed count of 235, with 198 beds occupied.

The ICU bed count is 41, with 34 ICU beds occupied.

The website also states the 34 of 41 in ICU are COVID-19 patients.

There is also a total of 105 Medsurg patients being listed on the DSHS dashboard too.

In mid-August, Judge Little’s office stated the county vaccination hub had closed in June and the county was not offering free vaccines, free rides to get vaccinated, or mass-vaccination events like a number of other counties in Texas.

Statistics also noted 45.28% of the Ellis County population aged 12+ were fully vaccinated and 54.36% had received at least one dose as of mid-August.

As well, 75.94% of the Ellis County population aged 65+ had been fully vaccinated by mid-August, with 83.95% having received at least one dose.