Rising share of coronavirus tests coming back positive in Texas fuels fears of another wave – By Colleen Deguzman (Texas Tribune) / July 18 2021
State officials and virologists say the highly contagious delta variant is causing the rise — and is particularly impacting unvaccinated people.
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With less than half of Texans vaccinated and the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus spreading, the percentage of COVID-19 tests coming back positive in the state has climbed to a rate unseen since winter.
As of this weekend, Texas’ positivity rate is over 10% — a level that Gov. Greg Abbott and the Trump administration had identified as a red flag earlier in the pandemic. Meanwhile, daily confirmed new case totals and hospitalizations are climbing fast, but are far below their winter peaks.
7-day average for the positivity rate in Texas
The seven-day average positivity rate is calculated by dividing the average of confirmed cases by the average of molecular tests conducted over the last seven days. States where the rates are over 10% are in the “red zone,” according to the The White House Coronavirus Task Force.
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