According to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), confirmed cases of the virus surged last summer during June and July and then again in the late fall and early winter, peaking in mid-January.
Daily new confirmed cases have averaged below 1,000 through the past month, with reported hospitalizations for the entire state staying below 1,700 during the same timeframe.
Despite criticism that his about-face was too soon, cases have not seen any surge since Abbott lifted his lockdown and mask orders in March.
As the number of reported cases and hospitalizations continues to stay low, the number of administered vaccines continues to steadily rise.
DSHS reports that as of July 1, 13.9 million people have been vaccinated including 11.9 million who are fully vaccinated, up from 7.3 million and 3.9 million at the end of March, respectively.
According to the data, 82 percent of Texans who are 65 years or older have been vaccinated with one dose and 73 percent of that demographic are fully vaccinated.
That age of the population accounts for 72 percent of the total 51,000 deaths reported by DSHS.
As of July 1, the state reports 2.5 million total confirmed cases of the virus, though the total number of cases could be much higher.
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Daniel Friend
Daniel Friend is a reporter for The Texan. He participated in a Great Books program at Azusa Pacific University and graduated in 2019 with a degree in Political Science. He has studied C.S. Lewis’s science fiction trilogy and in his spare time you might find him writing his own novel partly inspired by the series.
