» COVID-19 records fall again in S.A.
S.A.’S new admissions for virus also set record
For the third day in a row thursday, San Antonio set new records for the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 and for the number of people newly admitted to city hospitals to be treated for the disease caused by the coronavirus.
City and county officials for weeks have been warning that local hospitals will soon become overwhelmed if hospitalizations continue to increase at the current rate. Only 10 percent of the city’s hospital beds are still available for new patients.
In the past 24hours, 207 people with COVID-19 checked into San Antonio’s hospitals, pushing the total number of infected patients up to 1,376.
Hospitalizations for COVID-19 in Bexar County have more than doubled in one month and now account for more than one-third of all the hospital patients in the city. Of those, 394 need intensive care, up from 383 Wednesday, and 214 are using a ventilator to breathe, up from 199 Wednesday.
The last time there were more than 200 people on ventilators was Aug. 13, during the summer surge.
Officials reported 1,170 new local cases Thursday. Since the start of the pandemic, 128,067 people in Bexar County have been infected with the coronavirus. Nearly one-third of the total have been identified in the past month alone.
“Continue to do your part.
Mask up, practice physical distancing and proper hygiene ,” Mayor Ron Nirenberg said during the daily coronavirus briefing. “Do it for yourself, do it for your family and do it for San Antonio.”
The rolling seven-day average of new cases now stands at 1,534 per day, down from Wednesday’s record of 1,568.
Officials reported nine new deaths Thursday from the past two weeks, bringing the death toll in Bexar County since March up to 1,587. One of the deaths was a white woman in her 80s, and the other eight were Hispanic persons in their 50s, 60s and 70s.
The first known case of the new coronavirus variant in Texas was identified this week in a man from Harris County, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. The man had no travel history, meaning the variant has been in the state for some time.
Community Labs, the local non-profit providing nearly half of the corona virus tests administer edi nb ex ar county, announced Tuesday that its tests are able to pick up the coronavirus variant, dubbed B.1.1.7, which is more contagious than the strain that has been spreading since March.
Community Labs will work with Uthealth Sanantonio to determine whether the variant has arrived here.
Colleen Bridger, the interim director of the Metropolitan Health District, said the city this week sent a reminder to all test providers to increase the number of samples they send to the Centers for Disease Control for genotyping in an effort to quickly identify the variant when it arrives, although it could already be in San Antonio.
The coronavirus vaccine is thought to be effective against the new variant. Nearly 40,000 people in Bexar County have received their first dose of the vaccine and about 320 people have received both doses. County officials are counting on the state to distribute more vaccines in the coming weeks for those still in need of a second dose.
Bridger said that while more than 1 million people — about 60 percent of the county's population — are eligible to get the vaccine now, Bexar County has only received about 50,000 doses.
“The problem is, just because you're qualified doesn't mean you'll be able to find a place that has vaccine because there just isn't enough right now,” she said, adding that in two weeks the number of doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines available here will increase by 50 percent.
While the vaccine supply is still limited, DSHS announced Thursday that state officials will begin sending most of Texas' allotment to several large pharmacies and hospitals, creating “vaccination hubs,” which could vaccinate more than 100,000 people next week.