San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
COVID cases, deaths climb in S.A. area
Nirenberg urges doubling down on prevention
The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District reported 492 new coronavirus cases and two more deaths Saturday.
That’s more than half of the 936 cases reported Friday, which was the largest daily case count recorded since the spike in July.
The seven-day average moved up from 399 Friday to 414 Saturday.
“Our case numbers continue to increase at a faster rate, andwe all need to double down on our efforts to stop the spread,” Mayor Ron Nirenberg said Saturday in a statement. “Please heed the advice
of public health leaders.”
That means wearing a mask when out in public, maintaining at least 6 feet of social distance
from others and washing hands frequently.
The two deaths reported by Metro Health were a Black woman and an Anglo man, both in their 60s.
Since the pandemic began in March, records show 72,805 San Antonians have tested positive for the virus and 1,318 with the disease have died.
In the course of one week, the city has tacked on 3,012 additional cases and 24 deaths.
“Vaccinations aren’t available yet, but with a community-wide effort we can make a difference,” Nirenberg said.
About 11.5 percent of patients in San Antonio hospitals were positive with the coronavirus Saturday, for a total of 406 patients — 70 of those being new admissions.
Of those, 148 were in intensive care and 66 needed ventilators to breathe. Sixty-seven of coronavirus patients are here fromEl Paso as the border city’s hospitals are
“We all need to double down on our efforts to stop the spread.” Mayor Ron Nirenberg
overwhelmed with cases.
Since last Saturday, hospitals are caring for more patients fromEl Paso — seven more than the 63 patients recorded last week. Hospitals are also caring for more patients overall, 35 more than the previous Saturday.
This time last month, officials were reporting 213 newcases with a seven-day rolling average of 170. At that time, 200 patients were hospitalized, with 90 being treated in intensive care and 43 needing ventilators. El Paso patients didn't arrive in San Antonio hospitals until late October.