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 residents continue to feel the effects of the pandemic as Bexar County added 340 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
The additional cases bring the local total to 41,614. Some of the new cases were backlogged due to the county transitioning into the state’s health reporting software, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said 14 more people have died of the virus, bringing the death toll to 394. Many of those deaths were also backlogged, Nirenberg said.
Hospital capacity, which has steadily declined in recent weeks, decreased again on Wednesday.
COVID-19 hospitalizations stood at 817, down from 838 on Tuesday. Of those patients, 345 are in the intensive care unit and 238 patients are on ventilators.
Nirenberg said 13% of staffed hospital beds and 49% of ventilators are available in Bexar County.
During Wednesday’s COVID-19 briefing, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said 21% of hospitalizations in the county are related to the virus.
Wolff also gave an update on the Adult Detention Center during the briefing. He said there are 390 people ready to be transferred into the state’s prison system. And more than 600 inmates are still in the jail due to the governor’s order in March on personal recognizance bonds, he said.
Wolff said the county is paying an extra $50,000 a day to house the inmates waiting to be transferred to prison.
Wolff said 33 guards and 29 civilians working at the jail are out right now after testing positive for the virus. He also said the jail is running out of space due to social distancing requirements needed.
As the virus continues spreading in Bexar County, many parents will be tuned into a town hall on schools hosted by Metro Health that begins at 7 p.m.
During the town hall, Metro Health officials will lay out a new indicator bar that should help local school districts weigh the safety of reopening.
Later this week, the health department is expected to issue a new directive for schools.
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