CORYELL COUNTY, Texas — Update April 15:
Coryell County Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Harrell confirmed Wednesday morning the county had its first death from COVID-19.
The victim was a man in his 70s who died on April 9. He was the second reported case in the county.
A press release from County Judge Roger Miller and the Office of Emergency Management also updated the total number of positive cases from 18 to 43. Later in the day, another press release reported 60 cases. The Texas Department of State Health Services updated its count to 60 positive cases Wednesday morning as well.
The number includes 22 active cases, four recovered, one deceased and 33 Texas Department of Criminal Justice inmates.
Judge Miller told 6 News Tuesday they had been working all weekend to verify new cases. 6 News collected the following information on that Tuesday:
"At the local level, we are trying to vet and verify how many cases are in the county so that we can give an actual picture of what the health risk is to our public by giving them verified information," Miller said
The number of inmates does not match the number of positive cases listed on the TDCJ website, according to the county.
TDCJ was reporting 26 positive cases Wednesday in the Murray Unit and 11 in the Woodman Unit in Gatesville.
TDCJ Communications Specialist Jeremy Desel said Wednesday it reports its cases first to the DSHS.
"We report our cases as soon as confirmed to DSHS," Desel said. "Secondarily, we will also report them to counties. We update them once a day. Those are the most accurate numbers that exist."
"We have from the beginning and continue to take all precautions. We are following specific CDC guidelines specific to correctional environments. It is our focus to not only protect our employees and offenders as much as possible from this virus but to protect the greater community as well," Desel said.
How many cases are really in Coryell county?
As of Tuesday, Coryell County had only been able to verify information on 18 cases so far, though Miller was working on additional cases.
The DSHS added additional cases last week, bringing the total to 34. According to that department, the additional cases were state prison inmates from one or more prison units in the county.
"Coryell County is reporting cases that are county residents but are not including TDCJ inmates," DSHS Communications Specialist Lyndsey Rosales said. "TDCJ inmates are reported as Coryell County cases by DSHS Region 7."
Unfortunately, those cases do not account for all the inmates testing positive for COVID-19 in Coryell County.
If the TDCJ cases, which include some of the cases reported to DSHS, were to be added to the 18 non-inmate cases already confirmed in Coryell County, it gives a grand total of 55 positive cases in Coryell County and several pending cases that could still be added afterward.
DSHS said the Texas Department of Criminal Justice numbers will eventually be added to the total.
"TDCJ numbers will be more up-to-date because they are posting directly," Rosales said.
Why are different official sources putting out different numbers?
According to DSHS, and according to Judge Miller, the process of sharing information about cases is not a quick process.
TDCJ updates information on inmates daily. TDCJ then sends the information on inmate cases to DSHS via case report forms. To get to the county, the forms must then be sent to the local Regional DSHS office, and then to the county.
Judge Miller said sometimes the forms come in with almost no usable information, dragging the process out further.
Miller said he did not want to release the numbers until he knew which inmate cases were which.
"That list of numbers includes numbers that I can't verify against other numbers," Miller said.
What is the risk to Coryell County as numbers rise?
The new positive cases being counted towards Coryell County's total should only be inmates already quarantined in the state prison system and should not present a threat to the public.
Still, Miller said he wants to make sure no new positive community cases get lost in the shuffle as the new inmate cases pour in.
Miller said the county needs to know exactly where each positive case is located so they can keep track of it.
"I need to be able to verify a residence, an address," Miller said. "We have no place to contact them."