Coronavirus

The first known case of a new and more contagious coronavirus strain has been reported in Texas, in an adult male resident of Harris County who had no history of travel, according to the state health services department and County Judge Lina Hidalgo.

On Jan. 5, COVID-19 patients accounted for more than 15% of hospitals’ capacity for over a week in the Trauma Service Area that includes Austin, Colorado and Waller Counties.

With the 87th Texas Legislature preparing to convene in January, Sen. Lois W. Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) as Chair of the Senate Committee on Health & Human Services, conducted the state’s first public hearings on COVID-19 recently.

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Austin County, the virus hit home for County Judge Tim Lapham. “Yes, this virus is real, I have friends who have contracted it and this weekend we lost a family member to COVID-19,” he said in his weekly report Monday.