EC EMD recognized for pandemic actions

ELLIS COUNTY – Ellis County State Representative Jake Ellzey (R-10) issued a resolution recently recognizing Ellis County’s Emergency Management Department for its role in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic by setting up a vaccine hub.
While COVID-19 numbers seem to be on the rise with the recent Delta variant, Corey Rogan, Public Information Specialist for the Office of Ellis County Judge Todd Little said, “We’ve not offered any free vaccines since our Hub closed on June 4.”
Rogan said since the vaccination hub closed, Ellis County has been on the receiving end of data from Texas DSHS, which is reported to DSHS directly by the county’s hospitals and monitored by the Emergency Management Department.

Reportedly the county did experience a low of fewer than 50 new confirmed COVID-10 cases per day between March 4 and July 27. Since July 27, the county has seen a general increase in new confirmed COVID-19 cases, with a peak of 122 new cases on Aug. 5.

Ellis County reached its highest peak of new confirmed cases on January 5, with 774 new cases that day.

There has also been an increase in new probable cases, with a peak of 69 on Aug. 3, but a spokesperson for the county said, “There has been no corresponding increase in fatalities and Ellis County COVID-19 fatalities never exceeded five per day, and fatalities have either been one or zero per day since March 4.”

A low of 41 confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported for Texas students on July 11. Since then, there has been an increase to 283 on Aug. 1.

To put that in perspective, a peak 10,487 new COVID-19 cases were reported for Texas students on Jan. 10.

On July 4, a low of 16 new COVID-19 cases were reported for Texas teachers. Since then, there has been an increase to 312 on Aug. 1.

While the County said it can’t confirm or deny cases of the Delta Variant, 45.28-percent of the Ellis County population aged 12+ is fully vaccinated, and 54.36-percent has received at least one dose. In the 65+ population, 75.94-percent of the Ellis County population is fully vaccinated, and 83.95-percent has received at least one dose.

“In summary, I would say that we have seen an increase in COVID-19 cases since our low point following our successful vaccination hub,” the spokesperson concluded. “That said, the increase so far is nowhere near the level of infection we saw at the height of the pandemic in January.”is nowhere near the level of infection we saw at the height of the pandemic in January.”