SAN ANTONIO – Editor’s Note: Watch the entire briefing in the video player above. Newsletter recipients can click here to access the video.
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 Wednesday night.
Here are a few of the highlights:
- Nirenberg reported 439 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total case tally to 12,504.
- City officials also reported 1,019 COVID-19 patients in the hospital, a new high in hospitalizations. Of those patients, 324 remain in the intensive care unit and 175 are on ventilators. Nirenberg said hospital capacity was at 27%, and ventilator capacity is at 57%.
- In an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19, Wolff announced that Bexar County parks will be closed for Fourth of July Weekend. “We know what happened back on Memorial Day,” Wolff said, referring to the holiday that likely led to a boom in cases. “We know there will be a lot of people not happy with this, but it’s for their own protection.”
- Dr. Bryan Alsip, University Health System Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, said hospitals continue to be under high stress. “It needs to be said that all of our hospitals are doing immense work, not just to care for patients but to create capacity,” Alsip said.
- Alsip warns that if hospitalizations continue, capacity may be reached in “two weeks or sooner.”
- Nirenberg talked about a new emergency order that required businesses to list COVID-19 symptoms near entrances to help inform people to stay home if they’re experiencing those symptoms. “A healthy economy starts with healthy people,” Nirenberg said.
- The leaders again expressed their displeasure with Texas’ statewide blanket orders. “The stink of this whole situation is that, as the judge has clearly demonstrated, trying to find a way through the maze of state orders to figure out a way we can protect people is really the problem here.”
Track daily spikes in COVID-19 cases in San Antonio, Bexar County
MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE FROM KSAT: