COVID Cases Ramping Up Quick In Amarillo. Lockdown NOT On Menu

A lot about the Delta variant has been talked about when it comes to COVID lately. Amarillo is seeing the effects of it firsthand.

The Governor recently said that he doesn't believe a lockdown during the pandemic is the right thing to do, so for the moment we don't have to worry about that.

However, even with a lockdown not the option at the moment, Amarillo is seeing a rapid and consistent increase in COVID cases. Getting it under control would be of paramount importance so we don't have to revisit 2020.

Breaking down some of the numbers shows a bit of a troubling trend here in the city. According to the Amarillo Public Health's COVID dashboard, our worst day of cases was back on September 28, 2020 with over 1,100 cases reported between Randall and Potter Counties. No, we're not anywhere near THAT number, but a deeper look shows us how close we're getting to a troubling stage.

There are various reports stating that Amarillo hospitals are getting close to reaching capacity again, and that seems to be the word coming from a lot of hospitals across the country. That's when things start getting really dangerous.

The most recent numbers show us pushing nearly 200 reported cases between Randall and Potter counties 2 days in a row now. The last time we saw numbers like that was back in early October 2020, right around the time the Governor loosened some of the restrictions in Texas.

That was also the time we saw a very steady increase of reported cases that didn't start a decline until around Thanksgiving. That was the approximate time when the vaccines started to be administered. As people started getting vaccinated, the cases dropped dramatically.

The new Delta variant though is thought to be being carried by vaccinated individuals who have no symptoms passing it along to unvaccinated individuals. This is why we still hear that if you're unvaccinated, you should probably still be wearing a mask.

I know, you're sick of the mask. We all are. if we want to get ourselves back to "normal life" though, there's 2 things we can all do. One, get vaccinated. I know there are reasons for not getting vaccinated, and I can understand those. The other thing we can do is keep the masks on if you are unvaccinated and let those numbers come back down. Let's not go backwards when we've made so many strides forward!

Remember the consequences if it gets too bad. Schools go back to all virtual learning, restaurants and stores at minimum go back to limited capacity, offices start closing and jobs are lost. All things we don't need happening at this point.