BEAUMONT, Texas — Southeast Texas saw a decrease in the coronavirus hospitalization rate for the first time in over a week.
According to data from DSHS, the rate fell from 17 percent on Thursday to 14.93 percent on Friday.
Earlier this week, Southeast Texas was forced to scale back reopenings because of the high hospitalization rate. In order to reverse Governor Abbott's order, the region's hospitalization rate must be below 15 percent for seven consecutive days.
Friday marks day 1 of Southeast Texas being below that threshold after a 10 day stretch of being above 15 percent.
According to local numbers from SETRAC, 74 people are being treated in general beds across Jefferson County and another 42 are in the ICU. These numbers mark a slight rise from those being treated on Thursday, but Jefferson County did see a slight drop in patients in intensive care.
Looking at the 14-day rolling average, there was a drop in hospitalizations from Thursday with 116 total patients.
Local leaders look at SETRAC data when providing COVID-19 updates, which show the hospitalization rate at 22.4 percent.
SETRAC numbers typically do not match the state's data. The difference in these numbers has been attributed to different definitions.
State numbers are what Governor Abbott looks at to make decisions about reopening or scaling back to more restrictions.