Texas health officials made a key change Thursday to how they report data about the coronavirus, distinguishing antibody tests from standard viral tests and prompting slight increases in the state’s oft-cited daily statistic known as the positivity rate.The positivity rate is the ratio of the confirmed cases to total tests, presented by the state as a seven-day rolling average. The Texas Department State of Health Services disclosed for the first time Thursday that as of a day earlier, it had counted 49,313 antibody tests as as part of its "total tests" tally. That represents 6.4% of the...…Texas health officials made a key change Thursday to how they report data about the coronavirus, distinguishing antibody tests from standard viral tests and prompting slight increases in the state’s oft-cited daily statistic known as the positivity rate.The positivity rate is the ratio of the confirmed cases to total tests, presented by the state as a seven-day rolling average. The Texas Department State of Health Services disclosed for the first time Thursday that as of a day earlier, it had counted 49,313 antibody tests as as part of its "total tests" tally. That represents 6.4% of the...WW…

Need to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? Our evening roundup will help you stay on top of the day's latest updates.Accurate and up-to-date coronavirus data is critical — not just for informing the officials making policy, but for parents trying to decide whether to send their kids to day care and business owners wondering whether to reopen their stores.But Texas officials keep correcting the data — whether it’s because of human error, shifting benchmarks or bureaucratic changes. Last week, Texas its coronavirus fatality toll by hundreds of people — then lowered it again, lending...…Need to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? Our evening roundup will help you stay on top of the day's latest updates.Accurate and up-to-date coronavirus data is critical — not just for informing the officials making policy, but for parents trying to decide whether to send their kids to day care and business owners wondering whether to reopen their stores.But Texas officials keep correcting the data — whether it’s because of human error, shifting benchmarks or bureaucratic changes. Last week, Texas its coronavirus fatality toll by hundreds of people — then lowered it again, lending...WW…

WEATHER ALERTTags: Sign up for our NewslettersTags: A coronavirus patient in Anahuac was flown by helicopter to a hospital in El Campo — 120 miles away — because closer facilities could not take him.Ambulances are waiting up to 10 hours to deliver patients to packed Hidalgo County emergency rooms.And short-staffed hospitals in Midland and Odessa have had to turn away ailing COVID-19 patients from rural West Texas facilities that can’t offer the care they need.As the tally of coronavirus infections climbs higher each day, Texas hospitals are taking extraordinary steps to make space...…WEATHER ALERTTags: Sign up for our NewslettersTags: A coronavirus patient in Anahuac was flown by helicopter to a hospital in El Campo — 120 miles away — because closer facilities could not take him.Ambulances are waiting up to 10 hours to deliver patients to packed Hidalgo County emergency rooms.And short-staffed hospitals in Midland and Odessa have had to turn away ailing COVID-19 patients from rural West Texas facilities that can’t offer the care they need.As the tally of coronavirus infections climbs higher each day, Texas hospitals are taking extraordinary steps to make space...WW…

When Amy Jones burst through the doors of the intensive care unit, she found a line of health care workers in the hallway, she said. Jones was sobbing. Shaking. She let out a scream.A doctor named Juan Fitz was dying.Fitz, 67, was Jones’ common law spouse, she said, and the father of her two young kids. To his co-workers, he was a revered colleague in the emergency department at Lubbock’s Covenant Medical Center, where he had worked for roughly two decades.Fitz had driven himself to the hospital in the early hours of the morning four weeks before, after testing positive for COVID-19. Though...…When Amy Jones burst through the doors of the intensive care unit, she found a line of health care workers in the hallway, she said. Jones was sobbing. Shaking. She let out a scream.A doctor named Juan Fitz was dying.Fitz, 67, was Jones’ common law spouse, she said, and the father of her two young kids. To his co-workers, he was a revered colleague in the emergency department at Lubbock’s Covenant Medical Center, where he had worked for roughly two decades.Fitz had driven himself to the hospital in the early hours of the morning four weeks before, after testing positive for COVID-19. Though...WW…

Texas must ramp up efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus as the state experiences a “full resurgence” of COVID-19 infections, according to White House guidelines.Texas is seeing an “unsustainable increase in hospitalizations” from the virus and “statewide mitigation must increase,” according to a White House Coronavirus Task Force report dated Nov. 22. The was obtained and published by the Center for Public Integrity.Among the task force’s recommendations: Officials in Texas should significantly reduce capacity in indoor spaces, including those that are privately owned. And state...…Texas must ramp up efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus as the state experiences a “full resurgence” of COVID-19 infections, according to White House guidelines.Texas is seeing an “unsustainable increase in hospitalizations” from the virus and “statewide mitigation must increase,” according to a White House Coronavirus Task Force report dated Nov. 22. The was obtained and published by the Center for Public Integrity.Among the task force’s recommendations: Officials in Texas should significantly reduce capacity in indoor spaces, including those that are privately owned. And state...WW…

Need to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? Our evening roundup will help you stay on top of the day's latest updates.FALFURRIAS — After 8 a.m. on a fall Friday, a 31-foot white van drove down pockmarked streets, passed a public housing complex and pulled into the Falfurrias High School parking lot. Masked medical staff unloaded coolers filled with vaccines, then unpacked gloves and bandages. Others set out a hot pink sign bearing a handwritten message: “Free Flu Shots!”The nonprofit Community Action Corporation of South Texas has given flu shots for years in Falfurrias, a city of...…Need to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? Our evening roundup will help you stay on top of the day's latest updates.FALFURRIAS — After 8 a.m. on a fall Friday, a 31-foot white van drove down pockmarked streets, passed a public housing complex and pulled into the Falfurrias High School parking lot. Masked medical staff unloaded coolers filled with vaccines, then unpacked gloves and bandages. Others set out a hot pink sign bearing a handwritten message: “Free Flu Shots!”The nonprofit Community Action Corporation of South Texas has given flu shots for years in Falfurrias, a city of...WW…

After from lawmakers and advocates, a state board voted Tuesday to undo a rule change that would have allowed social workers to .The Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council voted unanimously to restore protections for LGBTQ and disabled clients to Texas social workers’ code of conduct just two weeks after removing them.Gloria Canseco, who was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to lead the behavioral health council, expressed regret that the previous rule change was “perceived as hostile to the LGBTQ+ community or to disabled persons.”“At every opportunity our intent is to prohibit...…After from lawmakers and advocates, a state board voted Tuesday to undo a rule change that would have allowed social workers to .The Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council voted unanimously to restore protections for LGBTQ and disabled clients to Texas social workers’ code of conduct just two weeks after removing them.Gloria Canseco, who was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to lead the behavioral health council, expressed regret that the previous rule change was “perceived as hostile to the LGBTQ+ community or to disabled persons.”“At every opportunity our intent is to prohibit...WW…

Need to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? Our evening roundup will help you stay on top of the day's latest updates.Hospitals in some parts of the state are filling with coronavirus patients, alarming health officials who say Texas could be on the brink of another surge after a relative plateau in September.The number of hospitalized coronavirus patients has swung upward in parts of the state including West Texas, the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the Panhandle and , where hospitalizations have reached an all-time high and the mayor of an “unprecedented number of new cases.”Dallas County...…Need to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? Our evening roundup will help you stay on top of the day's latest updates.Hospitals in some parts of the state are filling with coronavirus patients, alarming health officials who say Texas could be on the brink of another surge after a relative plateau in September.The number of hospitalized coronavirus patients has swung upward in parts of the state including West Texas, the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the Panhandle and , where hospitalizations have reached an all-time high and the mayor of an “unprecedented number of new cases.”Dallas County...WW…

, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.Texas social workers are criticizing a state regulatory board’s decision this week to remove protections for LGBTQ clients and clients with disabilities who seek social work services.The Texas State Board of Social Work Examiners voted unanimously Monday to change a section of its that establishes when a social worker may refuse to serve someone. The code will no longer prohibit social workers from turning away clients on the basis of disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.Gov. ’s office...…, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.Texas social workers are criticizing a state regulatory board’s decision this week to remove protections for LGBTQ clients and clients with disabilities who seek social work services.The Texas State Board of Social Work Examiners voted unanimously Monday to change a section of its that establishes when a social worker may refuse to serve someone. The code will no longer prohibit social workers from turning away clients on the basis of disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.Gov. ’s office...WW…

As a Texas-led lawsuit to end the Affordable Care Act made its way through the federal courts in 2018, Gov. that should his state’s legal team succeed, he and his policymakers would have a plan ready to keep Texans — including the millions with preexisting health conditions — insured.Now that the unlikely lawsuit has perhaps its best odds yet, with a hearing set for Nov. 10 before a U.S. Supreme Court that no longer includes liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Texas Republicans any evidence that such a plan exists.Texas Attorney General , a Republican, in 2018 to achieve through the courts...…As a Texas-led lawsuit to end the Affordable Care Act made its way through the federal courts in 2018, Gov. that should his state’s legal team succeed, he and his policymakers would have a plan ready to keep Texans — including the millions with preexisting health conditions — insured.Now that the unlikely lawsuit has perhaps its best odds yet, with a hearing set for Nov. 10 before a U.S. Supreme Court that no longer includes liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Texas Republicans any evidence that such a plan exists.Texas Attorney General , a Republican, in 2018 to achieve through the courts...WW…