COVID numbers falling as shots rise
As many as 10,000 Bexar County residents per day are receiving their first or second doses of COVID-19 vaccine, bolstering the city’s defenses against the coronavirus.
As of Wednesday, 445,651 county residents had received at least one dose. Of those, 249,552 have been fully vaccinated, city officials said.
“There’s no doubt, shots are getting in arms,” Mayor Ron Nirenberg said Friday during the daily coronavirus briefing.
Nearly 60 percent of residents 65 and older have received at least one dose, Nirenberg said.
Starting Monday, anyone 80 or older can be vaccinated at the Alamodome or any other public health site — with or without an appointment, the mayor said.
“We’re racing as fast as we can to make sure everybody gets a vaccination,” said Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff.
Wolff said the county-owned University Hospital System is vaccinating about 6,400 people a day.
Even as vaccination numbers climb, the virus is continuing to spread, although much more slowly than during the winter surge.
The Metropolitan Health District reported 179 new cases Friday, a slight drop from Thursday’s 210 cases.
One new death was reported — that of a white woman in her 60s who had been hospitalized at Baptist Medical Center. The
death occurred within the last two weeks, officials said.
San Antonio hospitals were caring for 184 COVID-19 patients on Friday, four fewer than on the previous day. Thirty-seven of those patients had been admitted within the past 24 hours.
Seventy-five patients were in intensive care — an increase of six from Thursday — and 40 required ventilators to breathe, one more than on the previous day.
San Antonio’s coronavirus metrics have improved steadily since the winter surged strained hospital capacity and caused a spike in deaths. In mid-january, newly confirmed infections averaged 2,000 or more per day, and as many as 1,500 people were hospitalized.
The seven-day average of Covid-related deaths was 16 per day in late January. By this week, it had fallen to an average of 1 per day.
Since the pandemic began a year ago, 203,370 people have contracted the virus in Bexar County, and 3,077 have died.
How to get vaccinated
Wellmed is scheduling first-dose appointments for the Moderna vaccine. To schedule an appointment, visit 833-968-1745.
No appointments are available at the Alamodome hub. To receive an alert when registration reopens, text “VACCINE” or “VACUNA” to 55000.
To find out when University Health appointments become available again, subscribe to Focus newsletter at www.universityhealth System.com or download the mobile app.
Other providers can be found on the Texas Department of State Health Services at DSHS.STATE.TX.US/ Coronavirus/immunize/ Vaccine.aspx or Express News.com/vaccine-faq.