Earlier this week, Texas disclosed more than 124,000 previously unreported COVID-19 tests, at a time when the proportion of positive tests results was drawing attention.
Sarah R. Champagne
Sarah R. Champagne was a 2020 reporting fellow at The Texas Tribune. A graduate of the Université de Montréal and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Sarah contributed as a freelance reporter to publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and the Globe and Mail, filing stories from 15 countries in three languages. She has also worked for Le Devoir and the CBC in Montreal, and she is the winner of an Overseas Press Club Foundation Award. Sarah speaks French, Spanish and Italian.
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Coronavirus in Texas
The crushing isolation of nursing homes during the pandemic
Texas eased restrictions on visitation in long-term care facilities last week, but many families remain unsure if they will be allowed to visit. For those cut off from their loved ones for almost five months, isolation is becoming another very real threat.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas to allow limited visitation in nursing homes with no active coronavirus cases
Nursing homes remain hot spots for the virus, with 57% still reporting active cases. Limited visits will be allowed both indoors and outdoors at facilities where there are no cases among residents or staff.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Why Texas’ coronavirus data comes with caveats
It’s hard to collect good numbers on an unknown virus, and Texas health officials have made errors. But experts say the state’s coronavirus data is useful as long as users understand its limitations.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Coronavirus cases in Texas nursing homes more than doubled in July. Families say the state still isn’t testing enough.
On Monday, the state released data on COVID-19 cases in Texas nursing homes after initially arguing that the information wasn’t subject to public disclosure.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Hidalgo County judge tries slowing coronavirus, but Gov. Greg Abbott has limited his options
Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez issued a new shelter-at-home order Monday night, but it “has no enforcement mechanism” according to Abbott’s office.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Coronavirus kills another 1,000 in Texas in just 10 days
The number of COVID-19 deaths has reached 4,000 in Texas, and public health experts say that’s an undercount because not all people who died with coronavirus symptoms were tested.
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Coronavirus in Texas
With 4 in 5 Texans living in a “red zone,” coronavirus hot spots are moving targets
Early hot spots have been eclipsed by new regions in crisis. Now that so much of Texas is battling major coronavirus outbreaks, some severely ill patients have to travel long distances to receive the care they need.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the U.S. And during the pandemic, an estimated 659,000 Texans lost their health care.
The pandemic-driven economic downturn has left more than 5.4 million Americans with no job and no insurance. Texas has one of the largest shares of this increase.
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Coronavirus in Texas
As Texas morgues fill up, refrigerator trucks are on the way in several counties
More than 3,000 Texans have died from the coronavirus and counties are preparing for even more deaths by expanding their capacities to store bodies.