Caitlin Hunt, 14, receives a dose of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from registered nurse Lisa Icard at Baylor College of Medicine Wednesday, May 12, 2021 in Houston. Hunt, with her twin brother, Christopher, were in the group of first teenagers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in the Houston area, less than two hours after federal health officials officially recommended the distribution of the vaccine to 12- to 15-year-olds nationwide.
Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographerWhat was statistically Texas’ best day of the pandemic was followed by a sobering number one day later.
On Sunday, the state’s Department of State Health Services reported its first day without recording a COVID-19 death since March 21, 2020.
The good news was dampened less than 20 hours later, when DSHS reported 23 new COVID deaths Monday — the highest Monday count in nearly two months.
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Public health experts said the day-to-day discrepancy is likely due to the method of reporting COVID deaths, which usually requires an autopsy and other steps that can cause gaps between the time of death and when it is actually reported to the state.
“We all want to be on the other side of the pandemic,” said Dr. Wesley Long, a pathologist at Houston Methodist. “And it’s OK to feel excitement about changes in mask mandates, or about decreasing case numbers and mortality.
“But it’s important to remember how we got here,” Long continued. “A lot of the benefits we’re seeing now are largely driven by vaccines and compliance” with safety measures such as masking and social distancing.
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Still, it’s clear the state has turned a corner: Last week, the state had a record low seven-day positivity rate of 3.9 percent, and cases and hospitalizations were at their lowest marks since last summer.
That change was welcomed at one Houston funeral home.
Bradshaw-Carter Funeral Home owner Tripp Carter said they haven’t had a COVID-related service since early March, which she credited in part to Houstonians abiding by precautionary measures.
“We are right in the heart of the city, and so it’s just great that we haven’t seen any more cases,” Carter said. “Houstonians, or at least certainly in the inner loop, were very conscious about following CDC guidelines.”
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Public health officials agreed with that sentiment, but said now is not the time for complacency.
While one in three Texas adults are expected to be fully vaccinated by later this week, many who are considered high-risk are still unvaccinated, said Dr. David Persse, Houston’s assistant medical director.
He said people should be mindful of that when they read numbers or reports about the state’s outlook.
“The numbers are getting better, but they are going to fluctuate,” Persse said. “They are trending downward, but not trending downward steeply enough.”
Roughly 4,000 people have died in the county since the beginning of the pandemic.
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Catherine Troisi, an infectious disease expert and epidemiologist at the University of Texas School of Public Health, said deaths will continue because of stronger and more contagious mutations of the virus that are already present in Texas.
Because of that, she said, it’s crucial for people to get vaccinated and practice safety measures around those who are not innoculated, including children.
“There’s always a possibility that a new variant that’s much more infectious or pathogenic will arrive,” she said. “It’s good news that things are looking good right now, but it’s still too soon to declare victory.”
Jordan Rubio contributed to this report.
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robert.downen@chron.com
