An order issued by Gov. Abbott has been issued to suspend elective surgeries in 6 Central Texas counties.

Our partners at News 10 report, Bexar, Dallas, Harris and Travis counties had already suspended elective surgeries. They're now joined by McLennan County, which is the fifth highest per capital in the state.  Also added to the list are Bosque, Falls, Hill, Limestone, and San Saba counites.

The suspension is effective this Friday at noon.

9,979 new COVID-19 cases where reported in the state Wednesday, and the Central Texas count jumped by 562 to 5,481.

The confirmed cases rose to a total of 220,564 in Texas on Wednesday.

The Texas Department of State Health Services says 104,467 cases were active ,and 113,284 patients have recovered.

Here in Bell County, 118 new cases of the virus were reported Wednesday. The Thursday numbers indicated that Bell County had 1,886 confirmed cases, 42 of which had been admitted to the ICU. 13 people have died from COVID-19 in Bell County according to the latest number.

As cases continue to increase across Central Texas, it is highly important that we follow the CDC and local guidelines.  Social distance, wear a mask ,and wash your hands frequently.  We all would really like to see the spike start to go down here in our home state.

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