Kerr County COVID-19 case counts continue to decline

Kerr County announced Monday that there are currently 31 active cases of COVID-19 in the county, which continues the trend of declining case counts in the past three weeks.

Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas is still asking for the public’s help as far as practicing safety precautions and the county will be closely monitoring whether or not Easter weekend will have an impact on COVID-19 numbers due to recent holiday gatherings.

The Texas DSHS and Peterson Health have released the following data as of April 5: 4,225 Recoveries; 2 COVID-19 Hospitalizations at PRMC; 84 Fatalities of permanent Kerr County residents due to the virus; 13,700 Vaccinations Allocated to Kerr County providers; 20,277 Vaccines Administered (which includes locals who received vaccines outside Kerr County); 7,276 Residents Fully Vaccinated.

Surviving Kerr County family members of those who died from COVID-19 may soon be able to receive financial assistance from FEMA to ease the burden of funeral expenses incurred after January 20,2020, for deaths related to the novel coronavirus.

Applications will start being accepted on April 12. Anyone wanting additional information should visit: https://www.fema.gov/disasters/coronavirus/economic/funeral-assistance.

Governor Greg Abbott announced Tuesday he won’t allow government-mandated “vaccine passports” in Texas and issued an executive order banning the documents that show proof of vaccination in order to travel, specifically internationally.

“Government should not require any Texan to show proof of vaccination and reveal private health information just to go about their daily lives,” Abbott said in a video post. “We will continue to vaccinate more Texans and protect public health and will do so without treading on Texans’ personal freedoms.”

Abbott’s most recent order follows on the heels of a similar order issued Friday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis saying, “It’s completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply be able to participate in normal society.”

Proponents for the idea of having “vaccine passports” think it can help ensure travel safety and help boost the confidence of people wanting to travel.