The state of Texas has been publishing all of its coronavirus numbers, including the numbers of tests they have been giving. I have been learning a lot this week as I’ve spent hours combing over the numbers. The biggest thing I’ve learned is that Texas’ COVID response, well boils over negligence. It is downright nefarious.
Some counties I researched have only done 1 or 2 tests per county. A total of 87 counties have each done less than 10 tests. Those 87 counties have a total population of 584,000.
Those same 87 counties had a total of 235 tests done.
That’s 0.04% of the population, which is much lower than the average of 0.5% Texas as a state has done.
What’s even more jarring is that in that same group of 584,000 Texans, who have only had 235 tests done, have had a total of 160 positives. That’s 68%.
In every single press conference, Greg Abbott has had repeatedly told us from all of the people who have been tested, only 10% are positive.
These are the counties I was referring to:
(You can find all of this data on the Texas Department of Health and Human Services)
Borden, Cochran, Crockett, Crosby, Dallam, Dickens, Edwards, Foard, Franklin, Garza, Glasscock, Irion, Jeff Davis, Kennedy, Kimble, King, Kinney, Loving, McMullen, Marion, Mills, Motley, Roberts, Stonewall, Terrell, Wheeler, Andrews, Bailey, Coke, Cottle, Hardeman, Hudspeth, Kent, Lipscomb, Mason, Menard,
Parmer, Reagan, San Saba, Sherman, Sterling, Sutton, Culberson, Hockley, Jim Hogg, Schleicher, Throckmorton, Delta, Robertson, Castro, Collingsworth, Deaf Smith, Duval, McCullock, Madison, Ochiltree, Rains, Swisher, Upton, Carson, Concho, Hansford, Hartley, Morris, Oldham, Real, Winkler, Archer, Armstrong, Briscoe, Fisher, Hall, Jones, Wilbarger, Zavala, Baylor, Coleman, Lamb, Childress, Clay, Jack, La Salle, Sabine, and Palo Pinto.
What about areas that don’t have a large metro area?
The Panhandle, which includes these counties: Armstrong, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Childress, Collingsworth, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Donley, Gray, Hall, Hansford, Hartley, Hemphill, Hutchinson, Lipscomb, Moore, Ochiltree, Oldham, Parmer, Potter, Randall, Roberts, Sherman, Swisher, and Wheeler.
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]The Panhandle has a population of 485,000, according to the state, they’ve only done 1,395 tests there. Yet, 627 have tested positive. That’s 45%.
Then, there’s the prison situation.
(For transparency, the links/references I have used have mostly all been updated today, 4/23. The references which are older than today, mostly come from small, rural areas where news is just a little slower.)
The State is reporting a lower number of cases than many counties are reporting
A month ago, the Texas Tribune published a story regarding the discrepancy in numbers. At the time, the John Hopkins coronavirus map was reporting 857 cases, Abbott was reporting 715 cases, and the CDC reported 507 then 352 in Texas on the same day.
The same article pointed out that Dallas County by that day reported 169 cases, even though the state was reporting only 34 in Dallas County. That was a month ago.
No one has kept up with these discrepancies between what the state is reporting and what counties have been reporting.
Anderson County
A few days back, I came across an article in Huntsville Item that said there were 66 inmates and 34 employees of the prison in Anderson County, Texas who had tested positive for coronavirus. Yet, the state of Texas was reporting Anderson County only had 14 cases.
The prison cases in Anderson county are hard to follow. Yesterday, the Palestine Herald was reporting 94 positives at the Beto Prison unit and that Anderson county cases have gone up to 14, 8 of which included guards. They also said that this number didn’t include the positive COVID cases who were transferred elsewhere. However, the day before that the ABC affiliate in East Texas said the positive cases at the Beto Unit were 106, plus 83 employees tested positive.
That is 189 total cases in Anderson County, yet the state is only reporting 14.
That means the state is under-reporting 175 cases, just in Anderson County alone. There are 254 counties in Texas.
What about the positive cases the Beto Unit said they transferred elsewhere?
On 4/17 The Facts reported 121 inmates from the Beto Unit were transferred to facilities in Brazoria County. So, is Brazoria County counting these inmates as part of their total infections? On 4/16 the county had 151 cases, then on 4/17 after the prisoners were transferred, they were reporting 302 cases. Yes, they are including prisoners in their total count, (unlike Anderson County).
Gray County
This is another county, (like Anderson County), where the number which is being reported doesn’t really add up. Gray County is a small area way up in the panhandle. The City of Pampa has been updating its Facebook account almost daily regarding the total number of coronavirus cases.
According to them, they have been getting their updates from the Texas Department of Health and Human Services.
They have reported 6 inmates at Baten and Jordan who were positive, yet the DSHS website is showing 8.
More so, the City of Pampa is saying they are getting their numbers from the State of Texas, and Texas is reporting something completely different, it leads one to believe Texas is intentionally lying about their numbers.
Otherwise, the numbers here match, but if Gray County is relying on the state for who in their county is infected, we should assume this number is likely erroneous, as well.
Walker County
It appears there is something fishy going on in Walker County, as well. The Walker County Office of Emergency Management’s Facebook has been reporting coronavirus updates. As of today, they are stating they have 59 cases in the general population and 74 cases in the prisons there, for a total of 133. Also, as of today, the State of Texas is reporting 136.
However, local media is counting the coronavirus cases in 3 categories, not 2. The groups in Walker County are the general population, the inmates in Walker County, and the employees of the prison system in Walker County.
When you add all 3, the total cases are actually 187; which is 51 less than what the state is reporting. It kind of leaves you scratching your head as to what is going on, here.
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]If you add up the 175 in Anderson and the 51 in Walker, the state is so-far under-reporting 226 cases.
Coryell County
As of today, Coryell County is reporting 97 cases, while the State of Texas is reporting 86. They are off by 11.
(This puts our running total at 237.)
Coryell County is also reporting that 59 of those cases are TDCJ inmates. Remember, the TDCJ publishes its number of infected. The facilities in Coryell County are, Crain, Hilltop, Hughes, Mountain View, Murray, and Woodman.
The TDCJ has reported 37 at Murray and 4 and Woodman, 0 at all the rest. The TDCJ is not reporting on 18 of their positive cases.
Other counties
I looked at the following counties and each one of them was reporting a higher number than the state. I wasn’t able to look at all of the counties, because I wanted to use the same-day numbers, in the afternoon, after Texas updated their numbers. The Texas numbers can be found here, below I’ll link where the county numbers can be found and how far off they were from the state.
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]- Cass – 5
- Hale – 3
- Houston (second source) – 6
- Montgomery – 27
- Orange – 4
- Rusk – 2
- Tarrant – 129
- Taylor – 6
That adds another 520 to our running tally, for a total of 757 cases which the state knows about, but did not report.
What the State of Texas has told us with their own data:
- Rural Texas only has tested about 0.04% of the population.
- From the tests which are administered in rural Texas, over 40% are testing positive.
- Texas’ prison population is testing positive for coronavirus at a 65% rate.
- Texas still does not have enough Tests.
- Both the Texas Department of Health and Human Services and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice are lying, falsifying, or covering up numbers.
- With the numbers Texas has reported, which we found to be inaccurate, they are under-reporting in every single instance. There is not one county where they over-report in, which leads us to believe it is NOT a mistake.
Why would Greg Abbott and the State of Texas lie to the people of Texas?
It all boils down to the entire GOP-mentality in the state of Texas. Our Lieutenant Governor, Dan Patrick, has gone on TV more than once stating the elderly should sacrifice themselves for the sake of the economy and the economy is more important than living. Both of our senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz have called stay-at-home orders an overreach, even though Ted Cruz self-quarantined twice in fear of contact he had with COVID-19 patients.
Greg Abbott shares their same sentiment, he just has a little more couth than the rest of the Republicans in Texas.
What can you do?
- Call your congressman. To find out who your representatives are; go HERE!
- Always vote! Are you registered to vote? Not sure, find out HERE!
- Join our mailing list for updates.
Still Blue in Texas 