9 more deaths as case totals top 35K

The sharp spike in deaths in Bexar County from the novel coronavirus continued Saturday, with nine more deaths reported.

That puts the death toll at 322. Forty-five percent of those deaths have happened over the last two weeks.

“Stay home & stay healthy this weekend,” Mayor Ron Nirenberg said in a social media post Saturday evening. “If you have to go out, make sure the location is following safety protocols and don’t forget your mask.”

The most recent victims of the virus included two Hispanic men, one in his 60s and one in his 70s, who died at Methodist Hospital, and a Hispanic woman in her 60s who died at University Hospital. All three had underlying conditions.

The other six were two white men in their 80s and a white man in his 60s, who died at University Hospital; two white women in their 80s, one who died at Methodist Stone Oak Hospital and another at Christus Santa Rosa; and a white woman in her 90s who died at Methodist Metropolitan Hospital downtown.

Figures released by Metro Health showed 758 new cases of the virus Saturday, boosting the total to 35,690 since the pandemic began here in mid-March.

But the slow improvement in San Antonio’s health care system continued Saturday, as the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 declined for the sixth straight day.

Metro Health reported 1,047 people with the virus were hospitalized Saturday, down from 1,059 on Friday.

And there were fewer people in intensive care and on ventilators. The figures showed 419 people with COVID-19 in intensive care, down from 430 Friday and 290 on ventilators, down from 294 Friday.

After the number of people hospitalized peaked at 1,267 on July 13, hospitalizations have trended downward in recent weeks. The percentage of available staffed hospital beds in Bexar County ticked up to 13 percent Saturday.

About 45 percent of ventilators are available citywide.

The city reported 5,780 active cases on Saturday, while 21,505 people are listed as recovered from the virus.

In neighboring Comal County, officials reported the 45th death from COVID-19. The New Braunfels man who died was in his 70s and had underlying medical conditions.

The county reported 88 new cases on Saturday, bringing the total there to 1,968. Of those sick, 78 are hospitalized.

While Bexar County ranks third in the total number of cases among all 254 counties in Texas, the county has the fifth-most deaths from COVID-19.

Harris County, where Houston is located, leads the state with 636

deaths, followed by Dallas, Hidalgo and Tarrant Counties.

Hidalgo County, which encompasses the border towns McAllen and Edinburg, has the third-highest death toll among Texas counties. The county has a population less than half the size of Bexar County, but has reported 456 deaths from COVID-19 — 134 more than in Bexar.