Covid numbers up in Wilbarger, down in Texas

Texas reported fewer Covid-19 cases for the week ending April 3, adding 18,561 new cases — down 47.2% from the previous week’s tally of 35,172 new cases of the virus.
However, Wilbarger County’s numbers were up slightly. The county reported six cases and one death last week. For the week prior, Wilbarger had four cases and zero deaths. During the pandemic the county has reported 3,453 cases with 87 deaths.
In Texas, 434 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday, April 3. In the week before that, 382 people were reported dead.
A total of 6,745,371 people in Texas have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 87,470 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 80,155,397 people have tested positive and 982,565 people have died.
Free testing
Medicare announced Monday that millions of enrollees will finally have access to free over-the-counter COVID-19 tests at drug stores.
More than 59 million people with Medicare’s “Part B” outpatient coverage will be able to get up to eight free at-home tests per month, or enough for an individual to test twice a week, as some doctors have recommended.
Monday’s announcement followed another precautionary move last week, when government health officials authorized a second round of booster shots for people 50 and older as well as those with weakened immune systems.
New strain
The BA.2 omicron variant now accounts for more than half of U.S. cases, having rapidly overtaken the original strain. That initial omicron wave this winter caused the biggest spike yet in virus cases, straining many hospitals to the limit. Since then, cases nationally have rapidly dropped to the lowest level since before last summer’s delta surge. Restrictions have been largely lifted. But areas with BA.2 are reportedly seeing increasing cases.