TEXAS — There was a time when it seemed unfathomable. New York was the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, recording staggering cases counts, hospitalizations and deaths attributed to the virus.

Texas has now surpassed New York in total coronavirus cases, and has recorded nearly as many deaths.

According to data reported by Johns Hopkins University, Texas has recorded 53,296 deaths and 3,142,184 total cases. New York has recorded 53,650 deaths and 2,152,964 total cases.

Only California has more, Johns Hopkins reports, with 64,429 deaths and 3,966,943 total cases as of Monday.

Johns Hopkins additionally reports Texas’ current testing positivity rate at 11.52%.

The state of Texas on Sunday reported 2,049 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, 310 new probable cases and 21 new fatalities.

The Department of State Health Services additionally reports 6,594 Texans are currently hospitalized with the virus. There are 9,430 available hospital beds throughout the state and 618 available ICU beds.

Things are grimmer in the Austin-Travis County region. Health officials there this past weekend reported fewer than 10 available ICU beds. The county is home to well over a million people. The region now qualifies for Stage 5 risk-based COVID-19 guidelines.

The recent uptick in cases and hospitalizations in Texas has been attributed to the large portion of the state’s population that remains unvaccinated as well as the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.

At total of 14,926,289 eligible Texans have received at least one dose of vaccine. A total of 12,700,487 are fully vaccinated. Texas is home to nearly 30 million people.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has encouraged residents to get vaccinated but last week issued an executive order prohibiting vaccine and mask mandates for agencies that receive state dollars.