COVID patient numbers continue steep fall

The coronavirus pandemic continues to retreat in San Antonio, with hospitalizations down roughly 70 percent from a month ago.

As the number of San Antonians vaccinated against COVID-19 has grown by the day, the pandemic’s grip has continued to ease, with fewer than 200 new cases reported in San Antonio for six days in a row.

The city added 186 confirmed cases Wednesday — just a fraction of the roughly 2,000 new daily cases reported during the height of January’s deadly surge.

“Remember that our fight against COVID-19 isn’t over,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg. “Wear your mask, practice social distancing, wash your hands and get vaccinated when it’s your turn.”

The positive trend mirrors the one across the nation. Since the country’s highest seven-day average of 249,378 on Jan. 11, that figure has plunged 78 percent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Health officials calculate the average number of daily new cases over seven days so they can better understand the pandemic’s trends and account for day-to-day fluctuations.

New hospitalizations also have fallen dramatically across the country — and San Antonio — over the last couple months. San Antonio hospitals were caring for 208 patients with COVID-19 on Wednesday, compared with 700 or so patients hospitalized in mid-february.

“We still haven’t hit the low mark where we were between the summer and the winter, so we still have a ways to get it down,” said Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, referring to the low of 184 patients in October.

From Tuesday to Wednesday, 31 people with COVID-19 were admitted to the hospital. Of the patients hospitalized Wednesday, 74 were being cared for in intensive care units, and 42 relied on ventilators to breathe.

“Everything is going the right way, unless something goes wrong and people become too casual or we get a new variant,” said Wolff.

As hospitalizations and new daily cases have fallen, the number of residents killed by COVID-19 has continued to grow, in part because people can die weeks after they’re first diagnosed with the disease.

City officials reported four deaths Wednesday that occurred within the last two weeks, bringing the death toll in Bexar County since the start of the pandemic to 2,995. A Hispanic woman in her 20s was the youngest victim identified.