SAN ANTONIO – Editor’s Note: Watch the entire briefing in the video player above.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff updated the community about the local response to COVID-19 in their daily briefing Saturday night.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg said Saturday there are 723 positive cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in Bexar County.
That’s an increase of 58 cases after Friday’s reported 665 cases. The total death toll is now at 27 in Bexar County.
Three more deaths related to COVID-19 were reported and two were residents of the Southeast Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center, according to Nirenberg.
Here are a few of the highlights:
- Mayor Nirenberg reported 723 COVID-19 cases and 27 deaths in Bexar County, as of Saturday.
- The mayor also reported 156 cases are travel related, 263 cases are close contact, 232 cases are community transmission and 72 cases are under investigation. A total of 119 patients have fully recovered from the virus in San Antonio and 84 are hospitalized with 53 in intensive care and 46 patients are on ventilators.
- A second Bexar County inmate housed alone since March 17th has tested positive for the virus, according to Judge Wolff. The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said the inmate has been in custody on a violent felony charge and was not housed with the inmate that originally tested positive for COVID-19 on April 10. Both cases are believed to be separate.
- Calls of first responder services have increased significantly, according to Judge Wolff. Just on Friday, there were 44 service calls related to COVID-19.
- Mayor Nirenberg is reminding the public that park police will be monitoring area parks over Easter weekend, as social congregating is prohibited under the mayor’s Stay at Home order. Anyone caught gathering at city parks will be forced to leave.
- According to Mayor Nirenberg, over 7,000 have tested for COVID-19 tests in Bexar County as of yet. There’s still a backlog of data that hasn’t been received, according to Nirenberg, but they expect to receive it soon.
COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus, stands for coronavirus disease 2019. The disease first appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, but spread around the world in early 2020, causing the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic in March.
County executive order in effect until April 30:
MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE FROM KSAT: