Virus cases at highest since July

Wolff says the county is ‘reaching a really dangerous point’

The COVID-19 situation is worsening as the holidays get nearer, with Bexar County adding 1,127 new cases Tuesday — the highest number of cases in a single day in nearly four months.

As efforts to stem the spread of the virus also increase, officials shut down a strip club on the Northeast Side after it had been inspected 18 times and cited six times for violating coronavirus restrictions, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said Tuesday.

The seven-day rolling average of new coronavirus cases rose to 669.

“We are reaching a really dangerous point,” County Judge Nelson Wolff said Tuesday during the daily coronavirus briefing with Nirenberg. “Thanksgiving’s coming Thursday, and if we don’t handle that right, we’re going to be in real serious trouble.”

The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District reported two additional deaths that occurred within the last 14 days, a man and a woman in their 70s. No additional demographic information was provided.

Dr. Junda Woo, Metro Health’s medical director, heard the increasing case count described as “a locomotive with a lot of momentum behind it.”

“If we all start pulling the brakes now, then hopefully it will be a lower curve,” she said.

Tuesday’s count was the highest since July 30, when Metro Health reported 1,323 new cases.

Officials have also seen increases in the number of people seeking tests. About 5,550 people were tested for the virus Monday, Wolff said.

“That’s by far our highest,” the county judge said.

The good news is a vaccine is on its way, Wolff added, with 27 sites identified by University Hospital to administer the vaccine once approval is granted.

Gov. Greg Abbott plans to roll out the vaccine quickly after the Food and Drug Administration approves it, which could be as early as mid-December, Wolff said.

“But we will not get a lot,” Wolff warned, with doses prioritized for health care workers, including the 9,000 people working for the hospital district.

Since the pandemic began in March, 75,718 San Antonians have tested positive for the virus, with 1,337 succumbing to the illness.

About 12.7 percent of hospital patients had the coronavirus Tuesday, accounting for 513 patients, 80 of those new admissions. Of the patients with COVID-19, 173 were in intensive care and 86 needed ventilators to breathe.

Though the increase in cases is concerning, hospitals still have fewer when compared with the summer. At the virus’ highest point, there were 1,267 people hospitalized with the virus July 13. Of those, 421 were in intensive care and 257 were on ventilators.

“We haven’t seen that incredible jump in numbers that we had this summer,” Nirenberg said. “We don’t want to get to that point, and

so we’re urging caution because, again, we don’t know when this is going to start coming back down and it could be a while.”

The city is stepping up enforcement of Abbott’s orders to stem the spread of the virus by adding more code officers to do more proactive enforcement.

Though most businesses are following orders, some individuals are still refusing to wear masks when entering businesses. “You can and you should ask them to leave,” the mayor advised business owners and managers.

The city revoked XTC Cabaret’s certificate of occupancy Tuesday for continually violating the orders, he said.

The city has revoked certificates of occupancy for three businesses since the pandemic began, Nirenberg noted. Those are XTC, Planet K and Mega Vape.