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 Thursday night.
Here are a few of the highlights:
- Nirenberg reported 34,633 total COVID-19 cases and 298 total deaths in Bexar County, as of Thursday, an increase of 1,078 new cases. Fifteen new deaths were reported today.
- City officials also reported that 1,074 patients are hospitalized, 437 are in the intensive care unit and 286 are on ventilators. There are 12% of staffed beds available and 46% of ventilators available.
- Nirenberg said 32% of hospitalizations in the area are related to COVID-19.
- Wolff said officials have “started to run into trouble at the jail” due to the state picking up few people to transfer into the prison system.
- Wolff said the jail’s COVID-19 statistics have started trending in the wrong direction due to the overcrowding. “We are running out of room in the jail to separate them,” he said about the inmates.
- Dr. Junda Woo, medical director of the Metropolitan Health District, said there was an outbreak at The Landing at Stone Oak assisted living facility. She said there have been three deaths, and 15 residents and seven staffers have tested positive for the virus. She said the Health and Human Services Commission is assisting the facility with testing.
- Woo said Metro Health is testing at nursing homes and other similar facilities as close as possible to once a week.
- Nirenberg and Woo said they are seeking additional guidance from the Texas Education Agency amid pushback from the latest health directive issued to keep students learning at home until at least September 7.
- Woo reminded residents to answer their phone if they see a call from “SA Health Department” to help with the case investigation and contact tracing process.
Track daily spikes in COVID-19 cases in San Antonio, Bexar County
MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE FROM KSAT:
