TEXAS — The news just keeps getting worse. As the school year is in full swing and the battles over mask and vaccine mandates continue, Texas is reporting some of the worst COVID-19 numbers of the entire pandemic.

On Wednesday, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported 24,115 new cases of the virus, 18,826 of which are confirmed and 5,289 of which are probable.

The state additionally reported 233 new fatalities attributed to the virus.

It’s the hospital data which is most disconcerting. As of Wednesday, there are 13,928 Texans currently being treated for COVID-19 in hospitals. That is approaching an all-time high. There are just 306 available throughout the state. Texas has nearly 30 million residents. Many regions are down to ICU beds in the single digits or have none available at all.

According to Johns Hopkins University data, the state’s current testing positivity rate sits at 12.01%. A total 55,798 deaths in Texas are attributed to the virus. A little over 47% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated.

The numbers aren't enough to sway Gov. Greg Abbott with regards to vaccine or mask mandates, however. The governor on Wednesday issued a new executive order banning COVID-19 vaccine mandates under any circumstances. That includes full approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA granted that approval to Pfizer’s vaccine on Monday.

As ICUs are filled in Texas, more people are beginning to turn to stand-alone emergency rooms for treatment. Dr. Neal Agarwal, one of the owners of Frontline ER in Dallas and Houston, said he is seeing an uptick in patients with a range of ailments. 

"I thought we may get 10 or 20 people a day. I never imagined it would be a lot more," said Dr. Agarwal. "Hospitals are packed, ERs are packed. I'll keep a patient here for pneumonia and keep them for two days here just because there's no bed available."

Meanwhile, a new report from the Perryman Group, an economic research and analysis firm in Waco, says that the recent surge in COVID-19 cases is not only hitting the state in terms of lives lost, but it's taking its toll on the Texas economy. 

They estimate the state's failure to contain the disease has led to nearly 72,000 job losses. The analysis also found on average, the state loses roughly $187,000 for every employee unable to return to work because of the pandemic. That amounts to total potential losses of about $13 billion per year, the firm found.