AUSTIN, Texas _ Texas state health officials reported 173 new deaths attributed to the coronavirus Thursday, bringing the statewide death toll to 4,521.
That's the third-highest single-day tally of deaths, following 197 on Wednesday and 174 on July 17.
Officials also announced 9,507 new known cases, bringing the current statewide tally to 361,125 cases. New cases this week have dipped slightly from high marks last week of more than 10,000.
The number of coronavirus patients in Texas hospitals was reported on Thursday as 8,858 _ but only 84.5% of hospitals reported complete numbers to the state, because of a transition in reporting to comply with new federal requirements, according to the Department of State Health Services.
"DSHS continues to work with Texas hospitals during this transition to ensure all facilities can fully report the data required," the agency said on its website.
On Wednesday, the number of coronavirus patients in Texas hospitals also reached a record 10,893, a slight increase from Tuesday's total and the 13th consecutive day the figure exceeded 10,000.
Especially hard hit lately are parts of South Texas. Counties that saw a tally of 10 new cases a day during the coronavirus lockdown in April have seen at least a 20-fold increase, said Dr. Joseph McCormick, professor of epidemiology at the Brownsville campus of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
"We just weren't prepared for the discipline required for emerging from shelter-in-place," McCormick told The Austin American-Statesman. "We saw a dramatic increase in community transmission in younger people," he said, referring to the transmission of the disease within a community without a single known cause.
He said that in some areas, the portion of people aged 18-40 diagnosed with the disease went from 30% to 65% of total cases.
County officials have been scrambling to try to bring the virus under control.
"We've got to lasso this virus, this stallion, bring the numbers back down and get control of this thing," Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez told Reuters this week. "Because our hospitals _ they're war zones, they are really struggling right now."
Asked on Thursday on Telemundo McAllen about people who might fear getting tested because of their citizenship status, Gov. Greg Abbott encouraged people to get tested. "The primary concern is the healthcare of everybody," he said. "There are no questions about ... status."
The rolling rate of Texans testing positive for the virus among those tested is slightly above 13.9%, a drop from the high a week ago of 17% _ and the first time below 14% since July 6.
Abbott, who issued a statewide mask mandate three weeks ago amid a rapid rise in cases and hospitalizations, has said anything more than 10% is cause for concern.
On Thursday, he told KRIV Houston that the requirement that people wear masks "is leading to better results."
"There are fewer people testing positive," he said. "And there's a leveling off if not downtrend in the number of hospitalizations."
"Don't let your guard down," he said. "We must all be vigilant if we're to keep our caseloads down."
