Montague County’s active COVID-19 cases continue to rise, as does the fatality count for the area reported to be at 14.
As of Monday there were 87 residents of the county in active isolation or quarantine with 79 cases confirmed by a positive test and eight probable based on contact or exposure.
The Texas Department of Health Service COVID Dashboard which records figures for all aspects of the pandemic shows 14 virus-related deaths in Montague County, however, Dr. Delbert McCaig, county health authority, said he knows of at least six more deaths which have had death certificates processed by the DSHS. Seven of the COVID deaths are from Nocona with the seventh one reported last Thursday night by the family on social media.
The health officer repeated what has been an ongoing issue since the pandemic started, with delays and discrepancies in the daily report local officials receive conflicting with and the state dashboard.
It takes three to five days for a positive test result to show up on the daily spreadsheets, while death certificates are processed from 10 to 14 days from the date of the death before they are shown in the reports.
Since the pandemic began there have been a total of 502 confirmed virus cases and 63 probable in Montague County. Across the state of Texas as of Monday there had been 1,100,979 confirmed cases, 20,588 fatalities, 165,126 active cases and 917,739 recoveries.
Free drive-up testing is expected to continue through December located at the Nocona General Hospital parking lot.
Visit gogettested.com to register.