Winter weather artificially lowers Texas’ Covid-19 case and death counts

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas reported 72 more deaths Wednesday from Covid-19, but hospitalizations from the disease continued to fall.

However, officials said winter weather is affecting the reporting of Covid-19 data. As a result, death counts and new cases will be artificially lower until complete reporting resumes.

The Texas Department of State Health Services said the state's Covid-19 deaths now total 40,717.

The confirmed and probable coronavirus cases reported to the state rose by 3,506 to 2,571,063, of which an estimated 243,437 are active.

Of those, 7,609 required hospitalization as of Tuesday, the state’s most recent total made available. That was down from 7,661 the day before and continued a downward trend.

Over the past two weeks, the rolling average number of daily new cases in Texas has fallen by 12,634.4, a decrease of 62.7%, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.