Toll rises as more vaccine awaited

31,000 doses administered out of 140,000 needed for front-line staff

Bexar County doesn’t have enough coronavirus vaccine yet to inoculate every resident in the highest priority group, but once a larger supply of the drug arrives, mass vaccination rollouts will be scheduled, Assistant City

Manager Colleen Bridger said Wednesday.

The Metropolitan Health District plans to team up with other providers to widely distribute the vaccine to residents, concentrating on medically underserved areas of the county, she said during the daily city-county COVID-19 briefing

First, more vaccine doses will be needed for the 140,000 people in the county who are eligible for the first phase of shots, she said. Bexar County is supposed to eventually receive an allotment of 90,000 doses for that socalled Phase 1A group. So far, 50,000 doses have arrived and 31,000 have been administered to front-line health care workers.

“Wewon’t be waiting until that full 140,000 people get vaccinated,” said Bridger, “before we move on to the second group,” known as Phase 1B and includes people 65 and older and those who are at least 16 with a qualifying health condition.

County Judge Nelson Wolff, 80, who received his vaccination Wednesday, said “so many lies out there on the internet” have discouraged some eligible and needy people from seeking the shots, but that “we need not be afraid to get it.”

As if to underscore that message, sobering numbers about the coronavirus pandemic continue to mount.

Metro Health reported Wednesday that there were 159 new virus patients in local hospitals, increasing the daily record by two set just the day before. New COVID-19 cases rose Wednesday to 1,323, an increase of 348 over Tuesday.

Officials confirmed 17 new deaths in Bexar County due to

COVID-19 during the past 14 days.

Among them were nine Hispanic males, five Anglo males, two Hispanic females and one Anglo female. Ten were between the ages of 60 and 89, while four were people in their 30s. The death toll for the year reached 1,538.

The seven-day average for cases stands at 1,121, with 1,136 COVID patients hospitalized — yet another new record, the most since the summer surge.

Those in intensive-care beds continued to climb Wednesday, rising to 331 from 299 onmonday, while 165 people on ventilators marked a slight decline from 170 on Tuesday.

Some surrounding counties are dealing with their own growing level of cases.

Comal County reported 55 new COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday and one new death, a man from Canyon Lake who died Tuesday. The county has 679 active and probable cases, with 49 people hospitalized. The largest portion of new cases — 17 — is people in their 30s and 40s.

The seven-day molecular positivity rate for Comal County was 21.72 percent on Wednesday.

Atascosa County reported 386 new cases over the last two weeks, with 2,623 recoveries and 18 deaths over the course of the pandemic.

Wolff and Mayor Ron Nirenberg ratcheted up their warnings to Newyear’s Eve revelers and the restaurants and bars catering to them. Have a great and socially distanced safe time, they said, but businesses found not to be complying with state orders on occupancy might be shut down if they don’t obey quickly.

Several agencies, including the San Antonio police and code enforcement officers, will be out in force Thursday night, officials said.

Wolff urged residents to enjoy “virtual fireworks,” stay at home and snuggle “with a bottle of bourbon” if necessary to avoid the inevitable virus-spreading of crowded, maskless celebrations.