Bell County reported five new deaths due to COVID-19 on its dashboard Thursday, raising the toll to 849 while cases continue to drop.
The new deaths included a woman in her 60s, two men and a woman in their 70s and a man in his 80s.
The Bell County Health District dashboard showed eight new cases of the virus Friday with 400 active cases — a low not seen since Oct. 22, 2021.
The county’s incidence rate went down to 110.22 cases per 100,000 residents in the county.
Of the 47,063 cases reported since the pandemic started, 45,814 have recovered, and 849 people died.
Vaccination rates increase
Vaccination rates in Bell County went up to 59% of the population, a 1 percent increase. Those vaccinated include 64.3% of 5- to 11-year-olds, 71.3% of 12- to 17-year-olds, 73.4% of 18- to 64-year-olds and 90.8% of those 65 years and older. The percentages do not include Fort Hood, which is recorded separately.
The health district’s dashboard showed that Trauma Service Area L had 76 of the 10,060 available hospital beds in the area taken up by COVID-19 patients. The service area covers about 512,799 residents in Bell, Milam, Coryell, Hamilton, Lampasas and Mills counties.
Several places in Temple offer vaccinations and testing, including CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, the Veterans Administration Hospital, and the Baylor Scott & White Medical Center and clinics.
Free at-home test kits are available at covidtests.gov. Tests are limited to four per household and are shipped through the U.S. Postal Service.
About 400 million N95 masks will be available free of cost through a federal program and are available at select H-E-B stores while supplies last.
School cases down
Belton Independent School District reported two cases of the virus in the district, one at High Point Elementary and one at Belton High School.
Temple ISD had no confirmed cases of COVID-19 on its dashboard.
Killeen ISD reported six student cases on its dashboard.
