TYLER, Texas — COVID-19 cases across the state are on the rise, and that includes East Texas.
The new BA. 4 and BA. 5 variants of COVID-19 are now the dominant strains in country. Russell Hopkins from the Northeast Public Health District said that these variants are evading immunity, causing the uptick in cases.
"Whether that was imparted through natural causes or vaccine related immunity, and it's just really, really infectious. It's even a higher infectability than the original version of Omicron," Hopkins said.
A study published Tuesday by the American Association for the Advancement of Science suggests that vaccine boosters may provide sufficient protection against the Omicron-induced severe disease.
"I think it's both vaccine and natural immunity. Many people have been sick more than once or have been vaccinated and sick," Hopkins said. "I think all of that together means that we're doing a better job of protecting the hospital's infrastructure."
In the first two weeks of July, Smith County reported over 1,100 COVID-19 cases. To put that into perspective, that’s as many cases that were reported in the entire month of June.
Smith County leads the East Texas region in the number of COVID-19 diagnoses, according to the data.
"We've entered into a period where kids went home from school, families went on vacations [when] summertime started, [and] we gathered in social settings. So that can account for quite a bit of the rise," Hopkins said.
Hopkins said weather is another factor that could be helping the spread of COVID-19. Usually in the winter, we see a higher rate of infections with people sheltering from the cold. But with this summer’s temperatures, people are staying inside as well.
"We are seeing an increase in the number, but not in the severe form that we saw with Delta," Hopkins said.
With more people using at home testing, Hopkins said some cases get reported later, and others don't get reported at all.
"So we will be able to determine approximate numbers. But currently right now, there's that's a segment of numbers that we don't have visibility on," Hopkins said.
If you need a COVID-19 vaccine shot, you can head over to NET Health’s clinic located on North Broadway Ave. in Tyler. You can also find a long list of locations here.