Cass County sees a major spike in Covid cases

Many health professionals in the nation have sounded the alarm again at the uptick in COVID cases, particularly the Delta variant. Texas sits in the top 10 with the highest rise of COVID-19 cases they have seen since the first of the year.

Here in Cass County, we too have begun to see a growing number of COVID cases, within the last week we have spiked to 78 cases. That is a 178% increase within a week’s time. However, in our region we have yet to see the Delta variant, in fact, our region has only been seen one of the variants; one case of the Alpha.

In rural areas like Cass County, it can be assumed that the rate of growth per capita would be better than major cities, since the exposure to other people on daily basis would be less, however according to an article from Kaiser Family Foundation found that might not be the case because of a variety of factors. “The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact has been felt in communities across the U.S., from the largest urban centers to the smallest rural communities.“

“As previous research has demonstrated, rural communities face unique challenges in responding to the pandemic due to medical workforce shortages, fewer hospital beds per capita, limited access to telehealth, and populations that are at elevated risk for COVID-19 related deaths due to age or chronic disease prevalence. In addition, a previous KFF analysis found non-metro counties experienced a faster growth rate in the spread of the virus and more recent data confirms that this is still the case. In late 2020, there were countless stories of the most rural communities being impacted by the coronavirus including remote Alaska villages and Texas ranches, and analysis from Pew Research Center found that sparsely populated rural areas were accounting for twice the number of coronavirus-related deaths as urban areas.”

Some of this data may be true for this area and some probably aren’t. Though Cass County may be considered rural there is a good base of hospitals and clinics because of its geography. Besides the quality clinics within its border, the county is surrounded by larger urban areas like Texarkana, Marshall, Shreveport, Tyler and Longview where people can get specialized treatment in addition Cass are only a couple of hours away from Dallas and Littlerock, AR. This probably has contributed to the lower mortality rate in comparison to the spike in numbers. Here in Cass County, we have not seen a death since 6-27 and five since March. Still, there has been a total of 85 deaths attributed to COVID-19.

Here in Northeast Texas health professionals are still continuing to stress the necessity for our county to be fully vaccinated. “It is imperative, now more than ever, that the residents of Bowie County and the Texarkana region seek out a COVID vaccine,” Local Health Authority Dr. Matt Young said. “We are seeing sick patients come through the clinic and emergency rooms at an alarming rate, and most of them are unvaccinated. This new Delta variant is moving quickly through our area and affecting younger populations more acutely. Now is the time to remain vigilant and keep fighting this disease.”

CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System’s acting Chief Medical Officer, Mike Finley, went on to underscore the need for the community to be vaccinated. “With the number of COVID-19 cases continuing to climb in our community and recent increases in hospitalizations for COVID positive patients, we want to encourage area residents to take advantage of the opportunity to receive COVID vaccine,” said Finley. “These vaccines are a powerful tool in combating the spread of COVID-19.”

Approximately 1 in 5 people in the United States live in rural communities. Rural areas can face different health challenges depending on where they are located. Many are considered highly vulnerable according to CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), which includes factors such as housing, transportation, socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity. Additionally, rural communities often have a higher proportion of residents who lack health insurance, live with a chronic disease or disability, are older than 65 years, and have limited access to health care facilities with intensive care capabilities. These factors place residents of rural communities at increased risk for COVID-19-associated illness and death.

Because of this increased risk, vaccination disparities between urban and rural areas could further undermine efforts to reduce morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 nationally. A recent CDC report found that COVID-19 vaccination coverage was lower in rural counties compared to urban counties. Efforts are underway to raise awareness about COVID-19 vaccines, and to make vaccines more accessible to residents of rural communities. We must work together to ensure that all people, regardless of geographic location, have resources to maintain and manage their physical and mental health, including easy access to accurate information and affordable medical care so all communities can thrive.

Here in Cass County, we rank high on CDC/ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index. “Social vulnerability refers to the potential negative effects on communities caused by external stresses on human health.

Such stresses include natural or human-caused disasters or disease outbreaks. Reducing social vulnerability can decrease both human suffering and economic loss,” according to the CDC.

“The CDC/ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index (CDC/ATSDR SVI) uses 15 U.S. census variables to help local officials identify communities that may need support before, during, or after disasters.” Among those variables include Cass County’s poverty rate in county, 19.6%, the percentage of the county’s population, 22.83%, and the percentage of those uninsured here, 15.4%. Cass has a 0.7841 Social Vulnerability ranking in which essentially means we rank 8 out of 10 as the most vulnerable in the nation. A score of 0.7841 indicates a high level of vulnerability. Possible scores range from 0 (lowest vulnerability) to 1 (highest vulnerability).

This is especial so for minorities according to John Hopkins, “Generations of health inequities have caused Black and Hispanic/Latin Americans and other communities of color to be overrepresented in severe COVID-19 cases and deaths. People of color are vulnerable to COVID-19 risk factors, and are more likely to be working front-line, essential jobs that cannot be performed from home, increasing their chances of being infected.”

In spite of those facts, it was noted by a research study from Northwestern, Harvard, Northeastern, and Rutgers that “Wealthy Americans were also more likely to have received a vaccination; 24% of those making more than $150,000 were in this case, while only 9% of those making less than $25,000 had. Those figures for income became even starker when the researchers broke them down by age.”

The study goes on to say that “where one lives also reveals differences in vaccination rates and views on it. Rural Americans were slightly less likely to have received a vaccination at 12% versus 15% for those in cities. But 29% of rural inhabitants stated they would not get a vaccine versus just 16% of city dwellers. Suburbanites also had higher rates of vaccine resistance at 22%.”

The numbers do show that the vaccines are working here in Texas. The Texas Department of Health says that “Texas has seen nearly 9,000 COVID-19 deaths since February. All but 43 were unvaccinated people. The agency said nearly 75% of the 43 vaccinated people who died were fighting a serious underlying condition, such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer or chronic lung disease,” according to a July 21 article in the Texas Tribune.