S.A. hospitalizations continue to soar
Mayor says ‘velocity of this virus is extremely dangerous’
San Antonio’s coronavirus hospitalizations continued on a frightening upward trajectory Monday, as officials reported a record number of pandemic patients for the seventh straight day.
People infected with the virus accounted for 36.6 percent of all hospital patients in Bexar County. Of the 1,433 people hospitalized, 142 had been admitted within the past day; 392 were critically ill and 229 were breathing with the support of a ventilator.
Coronavirus hospitalizations have doubled in the past month and climbed by 174 patients in the past week, as admissions have outpaced discharges. Across Texas, nearly 14,000 COVID patients were hospitalized as of Monday.
This surge, which got underway in late November, is placing far more stress on hospitals than the city’s last major coronavirus spike, when 1,267 patients were receiving medical care at most.
The breadth of the crisis threatens to overwhelm the local health care system, which is caring for patients with the help of about 1,300 state-contracted medical workers. An additional 300 personnel have been requested to assist San Antonio’s hospitals, officials said.
Modeling indicates that the area’s outbreak could plateau toward the end of the month and start to abate sometime in February, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said during the daily coronavirus briefing.
“The velocity of this virus is extremely dangerous right now,” he said.
At the moment, there are few signs that San Antonio’s outbreak is improving.
Officials reported 1,585 new cases Monday and a rolling sevenday average of 1,769 cases per day, the highest it has ever been. The case rate also jumped dramatically in the past week, from 64.8 to 84.6 cases per 100,000 residents.
New infections have been reported among nearly 18,000 residents since the start of the new year, raising Bexar County’s cumulative case count over the duration of the pandemic to 135,104.
San Antonio has logged a record number of new cases in recent days. On Sunday, more than 3,000 infections were reported — an all-time high — and there were two other days last week where new cases exceeded 2,000.
The positivity rate, which measures the portion of infections being captured through testing, dropped 3.5 percentage points, to 19.7 percent. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff noted that the rate is far lower than other major cities in Texas, including Dallas
and Houston.
However, the rate can be lowered by increased testing, and a record number of people — nearly 60,000 residents — were tested last week.
“Even though our positivity rate is down, it’s finding a lot more virus, a lot more infected individuals out there,” Nirenberg said. “Which is good that we’re finding them, but there is still a tremendous amount of transmission out there. A one-week decrease in the positivity rate is not something that we can get excited or begin to relax about.”
With the virus posing a high risk, San Antonio has begun ramping up its effort to inoculate vulnerable residents against the virus.
On Monday, the city opened a mass vaccination site at the Alamodome. Vaccines are also being offered by University Health at the Wonderland of the Americas Mall and at two Wellmed clinics on the South Side. Wolff said the city has the ability to vaccinate about 4,500 people a day across the four sites.
“I know it’s difficult now. I know it’s a hassle to try to sign up,” Wolff said, acknowledging the 9,000 slots at the Alamodome that filled within minutes on Saturday. “But it will get better, and I think we’re doing much better in offering these opportunities.”
More relief is also on the way to businesses through the latest federal stimulus bill. Nirenberg said small businesses can begin applying this week for additional forgivable loans under the the Paycheck Protection Program.
One new COVID death was reported in Bexar County on Monday — that of a woman in her 80s, who was a resident of Ventura Hills assisted living facility. Since March, at least 1,649 residents have succumbed to the virus.
Texas crossed a grim milestone over the weekend, recording its 30,000th death from COVID-19, according to a Hearst Newspapers’ analysis, making it the second state in the country to do so. In the last week, an average of 279 people died each day in Texas from the virus, the highest mark since early August.
During the briefing, Wolff ’s voice grew thick with emotion as he described the death of a close friend from COVID the previous night. The man’s wife was frustrated that she was unable to be with him at the hospital, Wolff said.
“You can’t say goodbye, because you can’t go to the hospital. … So, you die alone,” he said. “It’s just a terrible, terrible way to get by, without your loved ones being able to say goodbye.”