Preservation group eyes complex
Children play at the Alazan-apache Courts public housing complex, which now is on a U.S. preservation group’s list of the most threatened historic sites.
The Metropolitan Health District reported 177 new cases of the novel coronavirus in Bexar County on Thursday, 22 more than reported the day before.
This brings the county’s total case count to 53,971. Of those, 20 are students and 32 are staff in area schools, including15 teachers, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said Thursday.
Schools “are not yet to full occupancy, so these numbers are low and they could be encouraging,” Nirenberg said. “It’s not surprising to see some level of transmission there, but we want to make sure we keep an eye on that data.”
Metro Health Medical Director Dr. Junda Woo also described the school numbers as promising. “I mean, it’s not zero risk, but it is maybe not as high a risk to go into a school as some people had feared,” she said.
Five deaths that occurred within the last twoweeks also were reported Thursday, bringing the county’s death toll to 1,073.
The deceased included a white girl younger than 19; a Hispanic man in his 40s; two women in their 80s, one Hispanic and one white; and a man in his 60s whose ethnicity was not identified. Each was reported to have underlying medical conditions.
San Antonio hospitals were treating 231 coronavirus patients Thursday — three more than the previous day — with 25 of those being new admissions. There were 87 patients in intensive care, the same as Wednesday, with 36 using ventilators to breathe, five fewer patients than Wednesday.
The Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce hosted a
webinar Thursday that included a briefing by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a leading expert on the coronavirus.
Speaking at the webinar, District 4 Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia said three council districts insan Antonio have been disproportionately affected by the virus: Districts 3, 4 and 5. The populations for Districts 3 and 4 are 80 percent Hispanic, while District 5 is almost 95 percent Hispanic, according to data from www.sa2020.org.
“Unfortunately, our local community is also following national trends with people of color contracting and dying of COVID-19 at higher rates compared to non-hispanic whites,” Rocha Garcia said.
Rocha Garcia has personal knowledge of how virulent the disease can be. She has had six cousins die of COVID-19 and at least16 family members have had to be hospitalized because of the virus.
She said it’s urgent to fo
cus virus-fighting efforts in areas where the disease is hitting the hardest.
“That is why it is so crucial for our city to have targeted efforts focused on outreach and intervention in communities that have been dramatically impacted by COVID-19,” the councilwoman said. “Advocating and supporting funding opportunities to make this possible will continue to be a priority even as the numberof cases continues to decline and we enter a ‘safer’ phase of our resilience and recovery plan.”
City Council passed the city budget last week, giving Metro Health about $3 million more last year, bringing its total budget to $45.8million. Some of this money will go toward building health infrastructure in areas that are lacking, Nirenberg said Thursday.
Bexar County Commissioner
Justin Rodriguez reminded residents to get their flu shots. The countyhosted flu shot event Saturday already is filled. The county will host a similar event on the West Side on Oct. 10, Rodriguez said.
Bexarcounty is alsodistributing 250,000 face masks for small businesses from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Freeman Coliseum.
Businesses can receive up to 100 face masks each.
To participate in either event, registration in advance is required by going to: www.bexar.org.
Comal report
Comal County reported 49 additional coronavirus cases Thursday, 11 of those being new cases with the
remainder
This brings the county’s total cases to 3,410. Of those, 235 are active cases.
Twenty coronavirus patients are in Comal County hospitals, with two in intensive care and on ventilators.
With no new deaths Thursday, the death toll in the county remained at116.
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