SAN ANTONIO – Hospitalizations appear to be leveling off in the San Antonio area, according to a new COVID-19 projection model, but they remain high for at least another week.
“I’m happy that our dotted blue (line) is slightly below what we projected as what could have been, but I am concerned that we’re going to remain at this level for another week or two before we start coming down off of that high plateau,” said Dr. Ruth Berggren, an infectious disease specialist at UT Health San Antonio’s Long School of Medicine.
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Berggren said that if people infected with the coronavirus continue to be hospitalized at a high level, then hospitals and medical workers on the front lines will not get the much-needed beak that medical experts warn is necessary to prevent overwhelming the health care system.
On Thursday, Mayor Ron Nirenberg announced only 464 staffed hospital beds are available.
The number of hospitalizations has decreased from 1,267 to 1,202 in the last four days, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said during Thursday’s briefing.
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Berggren said the decrease in hospitalizations isn’t significant enough to truly change anything.
“So, it means that we can be thankful that we’re not rising. But we need to remain vigilant and continue what we’re doing to prevent further cases and to alleviate the stress on our health care workers,” she said.