Fort Bend County Judge KP George lowers COVID-19 threat indicator

By George Slaughter, News Editor
Posted 3/24/22

Fort Bend County Judge KP George Monday lowered the county COVID 19 threat indicator to green, the lowest, or normal, level.

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Fort Bend County Judge KP George lowers COVID-19 threat indicator

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Fort Bend County Judge KP George Monday lowered the county COVID 19 threat indicator to green, the lowest, or normal, level.

While George said he was happy to see the level returned to normal, he cautioned that the pandemic was not yet over.

“COVID is still here,” George said. “It is not gone. And we will continue to inform you what is happening. Good or bad, it’s my job to let you know.”

George said it was heartbreaking when, with the pandemic at its height, he had to shut down the county.

“It’s important that we take the virus seriously,” George said.

As of Tuesday, the Texas Department of Health and Human Services reported these figures for the three counties that include parts of Katy:

  • Fort Bend County: 157, 549 confirmed cases, and 21, 677 probable cases. The department said there have been 1,153 deaths in the county.
  • Harris County: 959, 309 confirmed cases, and 38,854 probable cases. The department said there have been 10,817 deaths in the county.
  • Waller County: 7,846 confirmed cases, and 1,594 probable cases. The department said there were 105 deaths in the county.

A discrepancy exists between these numbers, kept by the state, and the numbers kept by Fort Bend and Harris counties. A Fort Bend County official has said the Texas Department of State Health Services reports cases from the national electronic disease surveillance system database. In December, the state changed its public dashboard to reflect Texas cases as reported from that database.

According to the Fort Bend County COVID-19 dashboard, the county has had 157, 025 total cases, with one, 217 deaths. According to the Harris County COVID-19 dashboard, the county has had 878, 339 confirmed cases, and 7,500 deaths.

Waller County uses the numbers kept by the state.

Harris County remained in a Level III, or yellow, threat level Tuesday. Waller County has not used a threat level system as Fort Bend and Harris counties have.

George said Fort Bend County worked with local hospital systems, clinics and other medical partners to address the pandemic. He said they all played a role in testing county residents, and that Fort Bend County is among the top five counties in the state in terms of testing.

The county set up centers across the county for vaccinations. Today, he said, Fort Bend County has the most vaccinated citizens in the state.

“We were going to deal with this pandemic and that’s what we did,” George said, adding that everyone did everything they could to vaccinate the most citizens in Fort Bend County and reduce the threat level.

George said 87% of county residents ages 5 and up have received at least one vaccination shot. He said 78% of county residents ages 5 and up are fully vaccinated.

“That’s an incredible accomplishment,” George said.

George said the first COVID-19 case occurred on March 4, 2020, in Fort Bend County.

Fort Bend County, Harris County, Waller County, COVID-19, threat level, KP George