Texas coronavirus deaths are top 200 on Saturday as hospital admissions decline

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – The number of deaths in Texas from the disease caused by the coronavirus rose by more than 200 on Saturday, while the number of people hospitalized with the virus has declined, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

There were an additional 227 COVID-19 deaths, more than 4,900 new cases and 7,535 hospitalizations, down from 222 people hospitalized, the department reported.

Texas has had more than 2.5 million cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began, and more than 42,000 deaths from COVID-19, the third-highest death toll in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The seven-day moving average of new cases fell from nearly 18,980 per day to nearly 5,041 and the average daily death rate fell from 305.7 per day to 127.3, according to Johns Hopkins data.

In the past two weeks, the moving average of daily new cases in Texas is down 13,849.3, down 74.7%, according to the Johns Hopkins figures.