DALLAS — Nearly all of Texas is considered a “high transmission” area for COVID-19; only 15 counties in the state are the exception, according to the latest map from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC created a community transmission map, which measures the level of COVID-19 spread for every county in the U.S.
The latest map, representing data from Aug. 9 through Aug. 15, shows transmission of COVID has increased in Texas. A majority of counties in the U.S. (83.82%) are considered high transmission, according to the CDC. That number has climbed 10.5% since the CDC's data from a week ago.
A red "high transmission" area means COVID cases have surpassed 100 new cases per 100,000 residents over the last seven days, or the positivity rate will have exceeded 10% during the time period.
For the orange substantial transmission areas, new cases will have ranged from 50-99.9 cases per 100,000 residents and the positivity rate will have ranged from 8-9.99%.
Yellow means moderate transmission (10 to 49.99 new cases per 100,000 people) and blue is low transmission (0-9.99 new cases per 100,000 people).
These are the counties in Texas that are not considered high transmission areas:
- Lipscomb County (blue)
- Roberts County (blue)
- Oldham County (yellow)
- Childress County (yellow)
- Cottle County (orange)
- King County (blue)
- Stonewall County (orange)
- Stephens County (orange)
- Baylor County (orange)
- Knox County (yellow)
- El Paso County (orange)
- Culberson County (blue)
- Jeff Davis County (blue)
- Presidio County (orange)
- Kenedy County (blue)
The CDC is recommending that all people, vaccinated or not, wear masks in public indoor settings in areas of high or substantial transmission.
Presidio County, along the Texas-Mexico border, has one of the highest vaccination rates in the state with 90.52% of the eligible population fully vaccinated. El Paso County also has a high vaccination rate, with 71% of the eligible population fully vaccinated.
All southern states in the United States are completely red in the latest map: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and Florida.
Cases of COVID have been climbing in Texas since the end of July.
Hospitalization numbers
There are 11,791 COVID patients in the hospital with 327 ICU beds available, according to the state health department on Monday.
Out of 22 hospital regions in the state, 14 have reported an increase in patients. Eleven regions reported 10 or fewer ICU beds.
Regions D, N, S, T and U reported zero available ICU beds on Monday:
D – Abilene
N – Bryan
S – Victoria
T – Laredo
U – Corpus Christi