Delta Variant on Texas Killing Spree
with Nearly 600 Weekend Fatalities

Capitol Inside
August 16, 2021

The COVID-19 fatality count mushroomed this past weekend in Texas to its highest point by far since the emergence of the disease 18 months ago - according to independent data that raises new questions on the credibility of the state's official tally.

Texas had a record 578 people die with coronavirus infections on Saturday and Sunday based on the databases at the New York Times and the research consortium called the Act Now Coalition. The Texas covid death toll soared 325 percent in the past two weeks, based on the NYT data, when the state had more than 160 people die each day on average.

The Department of State Health Services - in contrast - only reported 304 covid fatalities across the state during the same three-day period that ended on Sunday. The most deadly day last week, according to the state agency, came on Friday when it added 144 names to the covid fatality count.

The New York Times showed Texas on Monday night with 54,488 total fatalities throughout the entire pandemic. The DSHS has the cumulative death count across the state at 53,100 in the same span of time.

Texas is bracing in the meantime for death and destruction that will be far worse with school getting under way again for the fall with Governor Greg Abbott abandoning the fight that he'd put up for more than a year before suspending all efforts by the state to fight the spread.

Abbott has punctuated with an executive order that prohibits school mask mandates in a move that flies in the face of science, medical wisdom and the state's proven experience in the worst health crisis in more than 100 years.

The Republican governor is making history that he might not have anticipated, however, with most of the schools in the state's largest cities and suburbs openly defying the mask mandate ban despite a Texas Supreme Court ruling on Sunday night in Abbott's favor.

The governor hasn't sought to justify with the kind of intelligent explanations that had been a hallmark of his leadership last year as the sole commander of the state response. Abbott has shown no concern for warnings on an increasing number of children in Texas hospitals with covid - and the state hasn't released any information that would show how many that may be.

Texas had 11,583 people hospitalized with covid infections each day on average during the past week - the New York Times showed tonight. The DSHS showed 11,791 covid hospital patients on Monday night - a number that's gone up every day since July 1.

more to come ...