BRAZOS COUNTY, TX — As the Brazos County Health District reports their fifth straight 100 plus day of positive COVID-19 cases, rural hospitals in the Brazos Valley are staying vigilant.
The rise in coronavirus cases in Brazos County means hospitalizations are the main focus of health professionals.
Now that more people are being admitted in Brazos County, how are rural community hospitals faring?
"Right now the hospitals have worked very hard to maintain their capacity, to take care of their COVID patients and maintain their ability to take care of day in, day out emergencies and surgeries," says Brazos County Alternate Health Authority Dr. Seth Sullivan.
As of now, the rural communities are not seeing a huge threat, but the health district is saying that they are prepared to take in patients from rural hospitals if it comes down to it.
"We do that all the time, we do that for none COVID related services where individuals from outside would be transferred into the hospitals here," says Dr. Sullivan.
Residents in Burleson county say they are not worried and that their hospital can handle incoming COVID-19 patients.
“There's more people around where I live that are kind of, they aren’t really worried. Me, myself, I’m not worried,” says Burleson County resident Amy Gamble.
Some residents believe living in the rural part of the Brazos Valley has it perks, especially during a global pandemic.
“I live in the country so I really feel safe because there’s not too many out there,” says Gamble.
Even though people are feeling safe, health professionals continue stressing the importance of social distancing and wearing your face coverings to slow the spread of the virus.
Currently, there are nearly 5,500 lab-confirmed COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals.