SAN ANTONIO – On Thursday, officials reported an eye-popping 5,501 more COVID-19 cases in Bexar County, 691 of which surfaced today, while the rest were backlogged.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg explained that the backlog was a result of kinks in the communication process with the state, and that cases have been underreported in the past two weeks. Despite that, all patients who tested positive were notified within four days.
Nirenberg called the backlogs “frustrating” but said the communication process has been resolved.
The onslaught of cases brought the total case count to 27,047, Nirenberg said during nightly coronavirus briefing.
Along with the new cases, 21 deaths were also confirmed. Ten of them were people living in nursing homes and some of those deaths were also backlogged, officials said. The death toll now stands at 229.
But there was a silver lining in hospitalization news. San Antonio saw a third straight day of declining COVID-19 hospitalizations on Thursday.
Nirenberg said 1,202 are hospitalized due to COVID-19, down from 1,231 on Wednesday.
Of those patients, 430 are in the intensive care unit, down from 438 on Wednesday. Ventilator use slightly increased, with 277 patients using them, up from 274 on Wednesday.
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said the decreasing hospitalizations are a good sign.
As of Thursday, 12% of staffed hospital beds available.
San Antonio officials came under fire Thursday after the Texas Department of State Health Services removed nearly 4,000 probable cases from Bexar County’s tally. Confirmed cases require a positive polymerase chain reaction diagnostic (PCR) test, while probable cases include people who are symptomatic and have a positive antigen test.
Both test for active infection, but antigen tests come back quicker, though they can sometimes provide false negatives.
“Probable cases do not mean ‘maybe’ cases of COVID-19,” said Dr. Colleen Bridger, interim director of Metro Health. “Antigen tests are FDA approved, and positive tests are highly accurate. San Antonio is one of only three Texas cities collecting and reporting this data per the CDC guidelines, but the State of Texas wants apples-to-apples comparisons between Texas cities.”
As case counts continue growing, some local schools have delayed a return to in-person instruction. Two large San Antnonio school districts, Northside ISD and North East ISD, will utilize distance learning for students for several weeks.