Brazos County Commissioners Receive Update on COVID-19 Activity, Increase in Childhood Cases

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Brazos County Commissioners received an update on COVID-19 activity Tuesday morning from the Brazos County Health District. Active COVID-19 cases have now exceeded 1,600 in Brazos County. The last time it was this high was in January.

There were 158 new cases and one more death reported by the health district on Tuesday. The patient was in her forties.

Brazos County health officials are concerned about the vaccination rate in our community as well as the growing number of COVID cases in children who are not eligible for the vaccine.

“Children aged 5 to 11 cannot be vaccinated yet, there is no vaccine for this age group, so the increase in cases among those under 18 is alarming for us in the health district and how can we mitigate this? We recommend the use of masks, social distancing, vaccination, ”said Santos Navarrette, health director of the Brazos County Health District.

Navarrette tells us they expect booster shots to be available this fall. At the moment, there are no plans to open a new hub.

“We plan to set up drive-thru clinics in Brazos County and Brazos Valley in the future when these vaccines become available,” he said.

Doctors and health officials are also concerned about the reluctance to vaccinate.

About 50 percent of eligible residents of Brazos County are vaccinated. For the immunity heard, this number must be 80 percent.

“Vaccine breakthrough infections occurred in only 2.5% of the people who were vaccinated,” said Dr Yao Akpalu, chief epidemiologist of the Brazos County Health District.

“We have to be able to do more than just wash your hands and put on a mask and social distancing… You have to keep your immune system up,” Brazos County Judge Duane Peters said. He shared his story about dealing with COVID but recovering it in no time.

“If you have the disease, you have to stay home. I mean if you start showing symptoms you probably need to get tested and find out if you have it and stay away from people. You have to stay home, ”said Peters.

Before the commissioners’ tribunal, Constable Isaac Butler also spoke of a united front of governments and local agencies to get more people vaccinated.

“When the doctors and even the health district stand up and explain the situation, we can see that we are all on one page, so I think there would be more people taking the vaccine,” Butler said.

“We are still seeing significant transmission of the virus in Texas and the United States and, again, vaccination rates are around 50 percent. We need to increase these vaccination rates, ”Navarrette said.

Here in Brazos County, confirmed cases are between 10 days and 97 years old.

The youngest death in the county was someone aged 21.

Copyright 2021 KBTX. All rights reserved.