TAMU-CC COVID-19 Researchers See Drop in Visits to Corpus Christi After Beach-Driving Ban

By Darrell J. Pehr

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Researchers at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi are watching data that shows a parallel between beach closures and the number of people visiting the Coastal Bend.

A special COVID-19 research team is tracking and modeling data to help leaders and the community understand how the virus is spreading. The team has produced maps that show the numbers of people coming to Corpus Christi from other areas.

“The maps measure the number of times a cell phone from a non-local user goes into a restaurant” said Dr. Lucy Huang, Associate Professor at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, who analyses cell phone app data. Each map represents one week of activity of such visits. The number of visits peaked in early June at 140,000 visits, leveled off for several weeks around 100,000 visits, then began dropping in mid-July.

The next week, just after beaches in this area were closed to vehicular traffic, the maps show a 25% decline to 70,000 visits, followed last week by another drop – to 64,000 visits.

“Overall, that’s a 36% decline from when the beach closure order was put into place,” said Dr. Chris Bird, Associate Professor of Biology at A&M-Corpus Christi. Bird noted that people who usually come here knowing they can drive right onto the beach may have changed their plans upon hearing of beach closures to vehicular traffic, and decided to go elsewhere. “I suspect that there is some deterrence in people coming to the Coastal Bend for vacation because of that beach closure.”

Bird gave a weekly update Friday, Aug. 7, to the community on the data being tracked and modeled by the task force, which started its work in April. Closing beaches to vehicular traffic is one method of attempting to control spread of the virus by discouraging visitors from elsewhere.

The maps of visits have been prepared since Memorial Day weekend. The latest map, with 64,000 visits, is the lowest number seen so far. The maps also show the percentages of visitors from various cities. San Antonio regularly leads in visits to Corpus Christi, varying from 15% to 26% of all visitors. Others come from just about every part of Texas, with significant percentages on most maps from Houston, Austin, and Georgetown, Texas.

“Are there other reasons why this number declined?” Bird said. “Probably, but it seems that the beach closure is correlated, at the very least, with this decline in the number of visits.”

Among other information researchers are tracking is cell phone data that measures the number of visits to parks, museums, and the beach. Starting in early May, beach traffic began to increase, more than doubling by the middle of June. Beach traffic then began to slow until mid-July, when it began a sharp decline back to levels not seen since mid-May.

The team emphasized that while the beach itself may not be a particularly likely location for someone to contract the virus, when a visitor comes to visit the beach, they also visit other areas and businesses.

“Sure, the beaches are outdoors and therefore of a lesser risk, but there is everything else that is associated with a visit, such as restaurants, service stations, hotels, all making indoor gatherings likely,” said Dr. Philippe Tissot, Interim Director of the Conrad Blucher Institute at A&M-Corpus Christi.

The update from the task force showed that the number of cases across the Coastal Bend has now surpassed 14,000. The task force has seen the number of new cases per day reach a peak and start a slow decline, although the Coastal Bend still has one of the highest rates of new cases per capita when compared to the rest of the state. Data shows 7,811 people in the Coastal Bend have recovered from the virus.

The researchers urge people to follow precautions carefully, such as social distancing, hand-washing, wearing face coverings, staying at home, and not gathering in groups in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The task force also recommends being particularly careful about attending family gatherings with relatives one may not see every day. The public is especially cautioned to avoid contacts with older members of their families.

Tissot, Bird and other members of the task force are preparing in-depth reports and public presentations each week for the City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County that model the course of the virus across the Coastal Bend.

The team’s presentations and findings can be seen on a special dashboard: https://www.conradblucherinstitute.org/covid19.

Blucher Institute researchers taking a deep dive into Hanna - KRIS6 News

Conrad Blucher Institute researchers were interviewed by KRIS 6 News - Corpus Christi on August 11, 2020 about the impacts of hurricane Hanna and how we can use data from the storm to better prepare for the future. See the video and article below, or click here to see it on the KRIS 6 website.

TAMU-CC Researchers Urge Continued Caution Despite Peak in COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations

By Darrell J. Pehr

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Researchers at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi are watching data that shows a hopeful peak in the number of cases of COVID-19 as well as the number of hospitalizations and people in the ICU, but warn that now is not the time to let down our guard.

“We peaked in cases, we peaked in total hospitalizations, we are peaking in the numbers of people in the ICU, and fatalities,” said Dr. Chris Bird, Associate Professor of Biology at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Bird gave a weekly update Friday, July 31, on the data being tracked and modeled by a special task force.

However, Bird is concerned by other data that shows a slowdown in social distancing, measured by cell phone encounters. He noted that cell phone encounters were dropping during recent weeks but now appear to have leveled off or started to increase.

“It’s important that we don’t let up now,” he said. “It’s looking like cabin fever, apathy, boredom, or just being tired of it is setting in.”

Other models updated in Bird’s report showed there have been more than 12,000 reported cases in the Coastal Bend since March, with more than 6,100 active cases. The research team is following the Centers for Disease Control estimate that about 10 times more cases are active than the number who test positive, giving the Coastal Bend an estimated 60,000 cases or more. That translates to one in 10 people in the community are infected.

Bird said while South Texas still leads all other areas of the state in the number of new cases per day per 100,000 people, the number of new cases appears to be declining. But because the numbers are so high in most categories, even a downturn does not mean precautions can be ignored.

“Because there are just so many people who have COVID now, just a little change in behavior, just wearing masks a little less, distancing a little less, has a much bigger impact now than it would have had in March, April and May,” said Dr. Philippe Tissot, Interim Director of the Conrad Blucher Institute at A&M-Corpus Christi.

The researchers urge people in the community to commit themselves to carefully following precautions, such as social distancing, hand-washing, wearing face coverings, staying at home, and not gathering in groups in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The task force also recommends being particularly careful about attending family gatherings with relatives one may not see every day, including funerals, baby showers, weddings, and other family events. The public is especially cautioned to avoid contacts with older members of their families.

Tissot, Bird and other members of the special task force are preparing in-depth reports and public presentations each week for the City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County that model the course of the virus across the Coastal Bend.

The team’s presentations and findings can be seen on a special dashboard: https://www.conradblucherinstitute.org/covid19.

CBI in the Field After Hurricane Hanna

Larissa Freguete and Jacob Berryhill prepare the Phantom 4 RTK for flight

VRS base to collect RTK GPS data

Jacob Berryhill and Larissa Freguete unload equipment at survey site

Larissa Freguete and the Phantom 4 RTK

Jacob Berryhill preparing the Wingtra WingtraOne UAS for takeoff

Jacob Berryhill launching the Wingtra WingtraOne UAS

Craig Palmer assisted by Larissa Freguete distributing equipment at the field sit

Dr. Michael Starek

Beginning Wednesday, July 29th, Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying Science began the first of several field campaigns to the survey the the damage along the Texas coast from Hurricane Hanna. The field operations crew from the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying Science and the Measurement ANalyTIcS (MANTIS) Lab are working together to collect UAS and mobile lidar data for the City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County. The UAS and mobile lidar data collected can be processed to generate high resolution (2 cm accuracy) interpolations of the post-storm ground surfaces. Presently, survey priority has been given to the beach between the horse path (south of Access Road 6) and Packery Channel (see map in photo gallery). With beach access points damaged by the hurricane, especially in more remote locations, UAS data will be paramount in aiding city planners as they assess the damage from the recent hurricane. This data will also help inform their decisions for repairing and rebuilding in the wake of Hurricane Hanna.

Weathering Environmental Change Through Advances in AI

Philippe Tissot, Interim Director of the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying Science, collaborated with several machine learning experts in the EOS (Earth and space science news and analysis) article Weathering Environmental Change Through Advances in AI. The article discusses convergent multisector research which may improve AI trustworthiness and, ultimately, assist decision makers.

TAMU-CC Researchers Urge Residents to Follow Precautions to Slow Rapid Increase of COVID-19

By Darrell J. Pehr

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Researchers are urging people in the community to commit themselves to carefully following precautions, such as social distancing, hand-washing, wearing face coverings, staying at home, and not gathering in groups in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Data and models developed by researchers at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi show that the Coastal Bend is in the middle of a sharp increase in deaths related to COVID-19 with even more expected over the coming weeks, particularly if precautions are not followed.

“To control the pandemic, it is vital that all members of the community stay home if they can, wear masks outside of their home, stay home if they have any COVID symptoms, wash their hands frequently, and observe all other recommendations,” said Dr. Philippe Tissot, Interim Director of the Conrad Blucher Institute (CBI) at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

The task force recommends being particularly careful with family gatherings with relatives one may not see every day, including funerals, baby showers, weddings, and other family events. The public is especially cautioned to avoid contacts with older members of the family.

“The sooner and the more people implement safety measures, the fewer casualties in a few weeks,” Tissot said.

Data assembled by the research team forecasts sharp increases in the number of fatalities related to the pandemic, with average daily deaths per capita in Corpus Christi now ranked second-highest metro area in the state. This time last month, Corpus Christi had one of the lowest rates per capita across Texas.

“As of July 14, the pandemic is still growing fast in the Coastal Bend and the impact of walking back some of the opening measures has yet to be felt,” Tissot said. “According to the analyses of the Coastal Bend COVID-19 Joint Taskforce, Corpus Christi is now the number one metro area in Texas for new COVID cases and second in fatalities per capita.”

Average daily cases in Corpus Christi are now more than 80 per capita per day, far ahead of San Antonio, with fewer than 40 per capita per day, and Houston, with fewer than 30 per capita per day. A month ago, Corpus Christi was among the three cities with the lowest rate of new cases.

In average daily deaths per capita, McAllen, Corpus Christi, and Laredo are far ahead of the rest of the state. The rate in Corpus Christi is now more than double the rate in nearby cities, such as San Antonio, Austin, and Houston.

Deaths are a lagging indicator and given the continued large number of new cases in the Coastal Bend, task force members expect the casualty rate will unfortunately continue to be very high for several weeks.

Tissot and other members of the special task force are preparing in-depth reports and public presentations each week for the City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County that model the course of the virus across the Coastal Bend.

The team’s presentations and findings can be seen on a special dashboard: https://www.conradblucherinstitute.org/covid19.

Geospatial Science Students Win 2020 National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) Student Competition

Pictured, left to right: José Pilartes-Congo, Heather Zavesky, Kevin Michael, Demetri Andreadis, Allison Brozusky

After several podium finishes (first place in 2017 and second place in both 2018 and 2019), students from Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) finally take the gold at national competition placing first in the 2020 National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) Student Competition. The competition was to be held in conjunction with the NSPS Spring meeting on March 31st – April 2nd but proceeded remotely due to safety measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Teams were judged based on a Technical Report and Research Poster submitted to NSPS.

The topic this year was “The Terrestrial Reference Frames of 2022 (TRF2022) and the North American-Pacific Geopotential Datum of 2022 (NAPGD2022) of the modernized National Spatial Reference System (NSRS) and their application in your jurisdiction”.

Each team had to act as if they had been invited to present at a Professional Land Surveyors meeting/conference in their jurisdiction (e.g. state), and provide an overview of the 2022 datums highlighting the practical considerations of which attendees need to be aware with the release of the new datums. A Technical Report was prepared so that attendees could, in theory, use it to increase their understanding and aid in the development of competency on these issues.

To prepare for the competition, the students presented a rough draft of their project to more than one-hundred professionals in attendance at a free continuing education course hosted by the Conrad Blucher Institute earlier this year.

The team would like to take this time to thank the generous sponsors that supported them this year. The funds were not used for travelling expenses due to cancellation of the in-person meeting, so funds will be used by the team attending the same competition next year. The team extends their gratitude to Davey Edwards, Galen Scott, Randall Kircher, and Bryan Gillis for providing their invaluable feedback and recommendations.

2020 Sponsors: Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying & Science, Dark Seas Mapping Co., Fenstermaker, Fontier Surveying Co., H. A. Kuehlem Professional Surveyors- A Baseline Company, J.P.L.S.- Ron Kolacny, McGray & McGray, Native Survey Company, Ron Carroll Surveying, and Topographic.

TAMU-CC Researchers Expect COVID-19 Cases to Hit Over 500 New Cases a Day, Precautions Vital for Control

By Darrell J. Pehr

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – With hundreds of new cases of COVID-19 being reported daily across the Coastal Bend, models developed by researchers at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi show new cases could hit over 500 a day by Sunday, although temporary limitations of the testing capacity may impact the numbers.

Dramatic increases will only be slowed when people in the community commit themselves to carefully following precautions, such as social distancing, hand-washing, wearing face coverings, staying at home, and not gathering in groups.

“The rapid increases will continue until the recent measures begin to have an effect,” said Philippe Tissot, Interim Director of the Conrad Blucher Institute (CBI) at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Researchers are hopeful that as behavior changes, the outbreak will begin to slow, as early as Sunday, but the effectiveness of new measures will depend on how seriously people follow the precautions.

“We were able to do it in March; we should be able to do it in July,” Tissot said.

Nueces County has now risen above all other Texas metropolitan areas in the average number of new cases per day per capita, surpassing even Austin and Lubbock. While data from April and May typically showed new cases per capita per day in San Antonio at more than two times the level of Nueces County, now Nueces County has more than two times as many cases per capita as San Antonio.

Researchers also reported the number of cases in Nueces County is increasing more rapidly than almost any other city in Texas, trailing only College Station-Bryan and Laredo.

Dr. Chris Bird, Associate Professor of Biology at A&M-Corpus Christi, noted that even rural areas are experiencing high levels of positive cases of COVID-19.

“You can’t hide from COVID in the lesser-populated areas of the Coastal Bend,” he said. With the virus so prevalent in South Texas, the importance of taking precautions to help prevent the spread of the virus are more important than ever, and wearing a mask should be as common as wearing shoes and a shirt into a business.

“No shoes, no shirt, no mask, no service,” he said, referring to a sign commonly seen at business entrances. Wearing a mask is now mandatory in public buildings, businesses and when using public transportation in Nueces County, and will be mandatory across Texas starting Friday.

Bird stressed the effectiveness of wearing a face covering.

“They protect you and the people around you,” he said.

In a regular weekly news conference today, July 2, Bird also gave an update on cell phone data that showed in some categories, people are going out less frequently, but in other areas, no change has yet been seen.

A major concern is how fast the transmission rate has grown, making it almost impossible to measure. With hundreds of new cases every day, widespread transmission of the virus is almost inevitable with even minimal transmission from one person to another.

Bird, Tissot, and other members of a special task force are preparing in-depth reports and public presentations each week for the City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County that model the course of the virus across the Coastal Bend.

The team’s presentations and findings can be seen on a special dashboard: https://www.conradblucherinstitute.org/covid19.

TAMU-CC Researchers Expect COVID-19 Cases to Continue Dramatic Increase

By Darrell J. Pehr

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Models developed by researchers at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi predict cases of COVID-19 may be doubling in Nueces County every four days, and 3,500 new cases may be recorded in the next 10 days.

The steep increase in cases puts Nueces County in third place among Texas metropolitan areas in the average number of cases per day per capita, behind only Austin and Lubbock. The number of cases in Nueces County is increasing more rapidly than in any other city in Texas, researchers said.

“We’re accelerating faster than all the other metro areas in the state,” said Dr. Chris Bird, Associate Professor of Biology at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. “Houston and Austin are also accelerating pretty quickly, but not nearly as quickly as us.”

In a regular weekly news conference today, June 26, Bird noted that Nueces County has been under the same types of regulations as other areas of Texas but has not adhered as well to the precautions, resulting in the rapid spread.

He said even if the transmission rate drops to the level of several weeks ago, when one infected person only spread the virus to one other person, the problem will not be solved. Because so many are infected now, the same transmission rate would result in hundreds of new cases as the hundreds of infected people infected just one other person each. Under that scenario, the virus would be at current critical levels for a long time.

Even with a drop in the transmission rate to pre-surge levels, “we’re going to see the same number of cases day after day after day,” he said. “It will not result in a decline in the number of cases. It will keep us steady. We need to go back to full, flatten-the-curve mode like we were in March. The reason we did so much then was because we needed to flatten that curve because this is what was coming. If you get too high, it becomes more and more difficult to get back down.”

Bird and other members of a special task force are preparing in-depth reports and public presentations each week for the City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County that models the course of the virus across the Coastal Bend.

Bird said because people in the Coastal Bend did so well with precautions early in the pandemic, the first wave passed with much less impact to people here than in other parts of the state.

“We shut down in exactly the right time, we flattened the first wave because of how we responded,” Bird said. “The localized outbreaks of last month were identified and quickly contained but now the epidemic is widespread in the Coastal Bend and there are too many cases to contact trace and contain. Only dramatic changes in behavior in the community or measures similar to the ones taken in March will be needed to overcome the current wave of cases.”

The researchers also are concerned that actions taken now won’t have an impact for around two weeks, which means rapid increases are almost certain for at least the next 10 days.

“It’s going to get worse,” Bird said. “We need to do a lot to help it get better. We all need to buckle in because this is not a false alarm or a drill. It’s imperative that we all do our part.”

The team’s presentations and findings can be seen on a special dashboard: https://www.conradblucherinstitute.org/covid19.

TAMU-CC Researchers Track COVID-19 Surges Across Coastal Bend, Urge Precautions

By Darrell J. Pehr

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A surge in positive cases of COVID-19 in the Coastal Bend coupled with data showing fewer precautions being taken, such as social distancing, has researchers at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi alarmed.

The outbreak here mirrors similar surges flaring across Texas but data being tracked by the researchers shows that the gap between South Texas and other areas of Texas has narrowed, or in some cases, COVID-19 levels here surpass other areas for the first time.

“We are part of a Texas-wide outbreak,” said Dr. Chris Bird, Associate Professor of Biology at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. “We have eclipsed Dallas and San Antonio in the numbers of new cases per day per capita, and we’re getting close to Houston. This is maybe the most alarming trend for South Texas in general.”  

In a regular weekly news conference today, June 19, Bird also noted that within South Texas, sharp increases are being seen in Brownsville, McAllen, Laredo, and Nueces County. Bird and other members of a special task force are conducting an in-depth report each week for the City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County that models the course of the virus across the Coastal Bend.

The team noted that data obtained from cell phones shows the number of people going to restaurants, grocery stores, and malls has returned to pre-pandemic levels. The data also tracks the distance people travel. That statistic also has returned to pre-pandemic levels, meaning people are returning to more normal patterns of travel such as vacationing, going on shopping trips, or traveling to visit family or friends.

Researchers believe the current surge began over the Memorial Day weekend and appeared first in the 20-39 age group, although it is now being seen across all ages.

“At this point, everybody is getting it,” Bird said.

Because so many cases are being seen across so many age groups and parts of the community, contact tracing is less effective in slowing the spread. Instead, the focus has to turn to a greater commitment to taking precautions, researchers said.

“The cases are popping up everywhere,” Bird said. “We’re in a scenario now that without a change in behavior, we don’t expect there’s going to be a decline. COVID is out there and it’s spreading rapidly in the Coastal Bend area.”

Studies show an effective way to slow the spread of the virus is by wearing a face covering.

“It’s very important to wear face coverings in public,” Bird emphasized. “If we all wear face coverings, that’s going to reduce COVID-19, but realize that the face covering does not make you Superman or Superwoman. Just because you have a face mask on doesn’t mean that you can get closer than six feet away from somebody else. You still want to social distance with the face mask to really reduce transmission.”

The task force also urged people to self-isolate if they have symptoms, stay at home if they can, work from home if possible, postpone social gatherings, keep social distances in addition to wearing masks, and washing hands frequently when outside of the home environment. Bird recommended getting curbside service at restaurants and stores to minimize contact.

“Remember that the face covering is to stop you from infecting people as well as to stop you from getting infected,” Bird said.

The team’s presentations and findings can be seen on a special dashboard: https://www.conradblucherinstitute.org/covid19.