New COVID cases on the rise in Erath County; too soon to tell what affect Omicron variant will have.
New cases of COVID-19 are on the rise locally, but Stephenville’s health authority Dr. Kelly Doggett says the numbers are still relatively low.
“The numbers are pretty much what I expected with the onset of cooler weather and more people getting together indoors,” Dr. Doggett told Beneath the Surface News. “The numbers are still what I’d consider to be low in the city and county, but the number is trending up and we’ll certainly keep monitoring.”
Erath County officials on Monday released its latest numbers, which showed an increase in new cases during the past several days.
There are a total of 35 new cases, bringing the number of active cases to 41.
Of those active cases, 20 are in Stephenville, three are in Dublin and 18 are in the county.
There are five current hospitalizations.
“It’s too soon to tell if the Omicron variant will affect us as the Delta variant did,” Dr. Doggett said. “Preliminary data seems to suggest that although highly contagious, the Omicron variant seems to have a somewhat milder course of illness.
“Hopefully that will prove to be the case.”
