Texas Crosses 250K Mark In Coronavirus Cases, 99 New Deaths

AUSTIN, TX — Texas reached a grim milestone on Saturday, crossing the 250,000 mark in cases of the coronavirus since the contagion wave began sweeping over the state. In addition, another 99 deaths from the respiratory illness were reported, six shy of the single-day record set on Thursday.

All told, 250,462 cases of coronavirus have been reported since the onset of illness, according to state health officials. There have been 3,112 deaths so far, with 119,470 active cases.

The updated data are found on the Texas Department of State Health Services website. A record 10,351 new cases of coronavirus were reported over the past 24 hours, with hospitalizations now at 10,083 — another new record supplanting the 10,002 hospitalizations recorded on Friday.

Coronavirus has left a trail of death in its wake this week amid growing numbers of diagnoses across the state. The rate of illness has grown exponentially since Gov. Greg Abbott launched an agressive economic reopening starting May 1. Illness spikes were especially seen after Memorial Day, and health officials fear a repeat given the recent July 4 holiday as hospitals brace for more positive cases stemming from social congregations at that time.

In recent days, Abbott has scaled back on that reopening, which amounts at this point to hold off on allowing already-opened businesses — from bowling alleys and gyms to restaurants and tanning salons — from operating at 100 percent occupancy as had been planned by now. Lately, the governor has been voicing the possibility of another total economy shutdown to stem the growing tide of illness.

Led by Abbott, the Lone Star State was the second state to reopen its economy as other governors waited until a flattening of the illness curve. Texas began reopening one week after Georgia launched a similar effort, only to see rates of illness soar ever since.

In recent days, Abbott has taken measures meant to stem the growing tide of illness across the Texas landscape — ordering bars to close again, mandating the use of protective face coverings, halting all elective surgeries or other medical procedures to accommodate cororonavirus patient influx, giving greater enforcement authority to officials at the local level. For good measure, the governor extended his disaster declaration to cover even more affected counties.

But it's unclear if or when those measures will be effective. For now, hospitals across the state are dealing with an influx of new patients, and an increasing number of families have received news of the death of a loved one. Over the past 24 hours alone, 99 more Texas residents died of the respiratory illness for which no vaccine exissts, adding to the total death count of 3,112 since the beginning of contagion.

According to the state statistical dashboard, the following counties have had the greatest number of coronavirus cases since the onset of the illness scourge:

• Harris: 42,000 cases.
• Dallas: 31,525 cases.
• Bexar: 18,602 cases.
• Tarrant: 17,334 cases.
• Travis: 14,304 cases.
• El Paso: 9,099 cases.
• Hidalgo: 7,334 cases.
• Nueces: 5,672 cases.
• Galveston: 5,630 cases.
• Fort Bend: 4,617 cases.
• Collin: 4,308 cases.
• Denton: 3,810 cases.
• Williamson: 3,654 cases.