The number of coronavirus cases in San Antonio has exceeded 110,000 since March, and the city is on the verge of new business restrictions as hospitals admit an increasing number of patients with COVID-19.
After three days without coronavirus updates due to Christmas, city officials on Sunday reported 4,426 new infections since Wednesday and 1,000 people in local hospitals, up from 945.
“COVID-19 cases continue to stress our hospitals,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg in a statement. “Please wear a mask when you are in public, maintain social distance and wash your hands often.”
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If patients with COVID-19 account for at least 15 percent of the total capacity of hospitals in the San Antonio trauma service area for seven consecutive days, local companies will be forced to reduce their maximum capacity from 75 percent to 50 percent , by an executive order from Governor Greg Abbott, said Nirenberg.
The city is on track to reach the seventh day on Monday, with coronavirus patients accounting for 16.9% of the hospital’s trauma service area capacity.
The Metropolitan Sanitary District reported 1,282 new cases on Sunday alone. There were 1,102 on Thursday, 820 on Friday and 1,222 on Saturday. On Sunday, the city also added 999 pending cases from more than two weeks ago. Since the start of the pandemic, 112,218 people in Bexar County have been infected with the virus.
There were two new deaths reported on Sunday, and authorities added 29 unconfirmed deaths, bringing the total death toll since March to 1,510.
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With 136 new hospital admissions for COVID-19 reported on Sunday, coronavirus patients now account for 27 percent of all patients in local hospitals, up from 18 percent two weeks ago. The number has almost tripled in the past six weeks.
There are 299 patients with coronavirus in intensive care, compared to 290 on Wednesday, and 159 patients using a ventilator to breathe, up from 152 on Wednesday.
In San Antonio and across the country, the number of daily cases has increased since October. This week, the United States has surpassed 19 million cases and 330,000 deaths. The most recent 4 million cases have occurred in just the past three weeks.
In Bexar County, more than 30,000 cases have been identified in the past month alone, almost 30% of the total.
The continuous average of new cases over seven days is now 1,294, the highest since the pandemic began. A month ago, the average was 728.
San Antonio expanded its testing efforts to identify new cases more quickly. More than 320,000 people have visited the city’s test sites in the past nine weeks, more than the total of the previous 23 weeks combined and not including tests performed by private providers.
More than 54,500 people were tested in places administered by the city last week, the maximum in one week since the start of the pandemic. It was the second consecutive week with a record number of people tested.
But more widespread tests are not necessarily the reason for the increase in cases; The positivity rate for the Bexar County test also showed an upward trend since the beginning of October. The rate rose to 14.4% last week, from 12.5% the week before. The number’s trajectory is considered “serious” by city standards, and health officials expect it to increase again in the coming weeks, as it did after Thanksgiving.
Vaccines have only been available to frontline healthcare professionals for two weeks. Months will pass before everyone has access to vaccines due to limited supply.
Test sites run by the city will close at the beginning of New Year’s Eve and remain closed on New Year’s Day. A list of test sites in San Antonio can be found on the city’s coronavirus website.
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