3 more deaths, 170 new cases
But Bexar hospitals now have the fewest number of patients since June
The number of coronavirus patients in San Antonio hospitals is the lowest it’s been since midjune, the Metropolitan Health District reported Thursday.
With 185 patients hospitalized with the virus as — 18 fewer than the previous day — city and county officials expressed guarded optimism about the course of the pandemic.
“That’s the lowest we’ve had going all the way back before the spread occurred this summer,” Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said at the daily coronavirus briefing. “So, that’s encouraging. Let’s hope we keep moving along that way.”
Mayor Ron Nirenberg said it took “a lot of hard work to get us back to this condition in our hospitals, so let’s keep up on the right track.”
Also Thursday, Metro Health reported 170 new coronavirus cases and three deaths.
Of the latest victims, one was a Hispanic woman in her 30s and two were women in their 80s, city officials said. All had underlying health conditions.
With the newly reported infections, Bexar County’s total case count since the start of the pandemic climbed to 59,323.
The county’s death toll stands at 1,171. Metro Health is investigating an additional 168 deaths reported by the state.
The last time there were fewer than 200 COVID-19 patients in San Antonio hospitals was June 15, when there were 187.
Of the 185 patients hospitalized as of Thursday, 80 were in intensive care — down four from Wednesday — and 36 were on ventilators, three fewer than the day before.
The pandemic’s grip on the region gradually has been easing since the surge of June and July, when Metro Health often reported more than 1,000 new cases in a single day. The one-day peak of 2,202 new infections was reached July 19.
For most of July, more than 1,000 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, including more than 400 in intensive care and more than 200 on ventilators.
For more information on key COVID-19 indicators for San Antonio, visit Expressnews.com/covidtracking.
Metro Health announced this
week that it would start counting and investigating the cases of people who test positive for the virus through antigen tests — whether or not they have symptoms.
Before, the agency counted positive antigen tests only if the person had symptoms. That sparked concern that Metro Health's published data could understated the spread of the virus.
Officials said Thursday that all cases identified through antigen tests, including asymptomatic ones, will be included in Metro Health's tally of “confirmed and probable” COVID-19 cases.
“Let’s hope we keep moving along that way.” County Judge Nelson Wolff on the drop in hospitalized COVID-19 patients
Voting during a pandemic
During the briefing, Wolff reminded residents that early voting starts Tuesday.
Of the 48 early voting sites, four will be “mega-centers,” Wolff said. Each site will have masks for everybody and machines will be sanitized between each use. A stylus will be offered to voters who don't want to touch the machine.
“I think we're going to have a big turnout,” Wolff said. “We're getting set up to make sure that we have a good, safe environment for you to go vote in.”
Wolff encouraged voters to wear their own masks to polling places and to avoid bringing children along.
There will be 284 voting sites operating on Election Day, Nov. 3.
Area reports
Comal County reported five additional coronavirus cases Wednesday — bringing the county's total to 3,534.
The county's death toll remained at 116.
Comal County hospitals reported treating five coronavirus patients Wednesday, including two in intensive care and one on a ventilator.