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As more shipments of the COVID vaccine make their way to Lubbock each week, area hospitals have started to see a slow but steady decrease in the average number of COVID hospital patients.

On November 29, 2020, Lubbock hospitals like University Medical Center and Covenant were treating an all-time high of more than 360 COVID patients.

On Nov. 29 in Texas Trauma Service Area B, which covers Lubbock and most of the South Plains, the total number of COVID patients was as high as 449 with a COVID hospitalization rate of 30.7%.

The number of COVID hospital patients in Lubbock County has now decreased to 212 as of Thursday, Jan. 14, a number not seen since October 20, 2020.

On Oct. 20, the COVID hospitalization rate in Trauma Service Area B was just 16.8%. It's now 18.6%, inching closer to the 15% threshold put in place by Governor Abbott. If Lubbock can maintain a rate of 15% or lower for 7 consecutive days, then business capacities may be increased to 75%.

In total, Lubbock County has reported about 45,000 cases of COVID-19. Of those cases, 41,000 have recovered, 3,400 remain active, and 626 have died with the virus.

In other COVID news, Texas Governor Abbott said in a press conference on Thursday, Jan 14, that Texas has become the 1st state in the U.S. to administer 1 million doses of the COVID vaccine.

Texas has long been 2nd in the nation for the number of COVID-related fatalities, but now California is in 2nd with just over 32,000 deaths, behind New York’s 40,000. Texas is in 3rd with about 31,000 deaths.

California also leads the nation in COVID cases at 2.9 million, with Texas in 2nd at 2.1 million.

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