Downgrade for virus’ risk to S.A.
City records 288 new cases of coronavirus, no deaths; testing returns to pre-storm levels
San Antonio officials downgraded the coronavirus’ risk to the community Monday as the positivity rate fell for the seventh straight week.
The rate, which is calculated weekly based on the proportion of people who test positive for the virus, dropped to 5.6 percent, a decrease of 1.9 percentage points from the previous week. Mayor Ron Nirenberg said at the daily coronavirus briefing that the positivity rate was the lowest of all major metropolitan areas in Texas.
It is now about half a percentage point above the 5 percent threshold that local health officials established as a baseline for manageable community transmission. San Antonio briefly reached that goal for one week in early October, when the positivity rate fell to 4.9 percent before steadily rising in the lead-up to the winter surge.
“When we can get below 5 percent, that tells us that there is a low level of COVID-19 circulating in the community, which means the likelihood of somebody getting infected with COVID-19 is much lower,” said Colleen Bridger, assistant city manager and the city’s coronavirus czar, at the briefing.
Officials had cautioned that the city’s coronavirus data had been skewed by last month’s winter storms and accompanying water and power outages, which shut down many testing sites and prevented people from getting to those that were still open. However, testing has returned to pre-storm levels, with around 50,000 residents tested last week.
Over the past week, the infection rate per 100,000 people remained at 39.7. That figure is
down from 70.1 a month ago.
San Antonio recorded 288 new coronavirus cases and no new COVID deaths on Monday. Since the pandemic began, at least 196,816 Bexar County residents have been infected and 2,670 have died from complications of the virus.
Nirenberg said the improvements to coronavirus transmission in San Antonio reflect residents’ strong compliance with public health guidance, including physical distancing, wearing masks and washing hands.
“These things work, and doing them consistently is how we have gotten to this point, after a very difficult winter,” Nirenberg said.
There were 464 COVID-19 patients being treated at area hospitals, 39 of whom had been admitted in the past day. While that was a slight increase of 17 patients from Sunday, it was still 144 fewer than a week ago and more than 900 fewer compared with a month ago.
Of those hospitalized, 199 were critically ill and 110 were breathing with the support of a ventilator.
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said while the pandemic’s
stress on local hospitals has greatly improved, officials would like to reduce hospitalizations
even further “before we can breathe easy.”
Federal regulators’ approval
of a third COVID vaccine over the weekend will significantly speed up inoculation of the community, local officials said.
Unlike those produced by Pfizer and Moderna, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is one shot and requires refrigeration, rather than storage at freezing and ultracold temperatures. Its 67 percent efficacy is lower than the other two vaccines, but health experts say it is still provides strong protection against the two most devastating effects of the pandemic — hospitalization and death.
Bridger said state officials have not yet communicated to localities how the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would be distributed, but it appears that initial doses will be sent first to vaccination supersites in Houston and Dallas.
As a result, San Antonio is not expected to receive its first shipments until next week at the earliest.
The arrival of another vaccine, particularly one that provides protection in a single shot, will greatly improve local vaccination efforts, Bridger said.
“It’s going to be a tremendous improvement,” she said.
“When you have to vaccinate a person twice, it takes twice as long to get them fully vaccinated.”