COVID UDPATE: 11 additional cases announced along with new tracking category

Milam County added 11 cases of COVID-19 to the count yesterday, bringing the confirmed cases to 273 with 54 active.

This is after two days of minimal additional cases this week.

Officials also announced they will wil including a new category in their daily report, referred to as probable cases. 

Milam County Judge Steve Young said this includes positive antigen tests and antibody tests, but not confirmed with a PCR test. The probable cases will not be included in the confirmed cases at this point.

The PCR test is the test that the Health Department uses as its standard for a positive test. A PCR test (polymerase chain reaction) looks for genetic material of the coronavirus.  This material is delectable when a person is actively infected.

The antigen test identifies people who are currently infected with the virus, by looking for proteins from the virus as opposed to genetic material.  This is a quick test, very similar to the technology of testing used strep throat, but it is not as accurate as the PCR test. 

The antibody test is a blood test that looks for antibodies to the virus.  Antibodies generally arise after four day to more than a week after the infection and thus they are not used to diagnose current disease.

Today's report:

Confirmed cases 273 confirmed cases – up 11

54 active cases – up 9

6 probable cases

Monitored 100 down 1

1 hospitalized – no change.  This person remains in serious condition.

Texas cases:

Confirmed cases 372,000 – up 9,879

Deaths 4,609 up 197

United States:

 4,009,000 cases – It took 15 days to grow from 3 million to 4 million cases.  Today we are up 67,648.

Deaths 146,149 – up 1,035