SAN ANTONIO – COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to climb in Bexar County, reaching 663 Wednesday night, but the head of the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council says the county still isn’t in dire straits. If beds get scarce, nurses and respiratory therapists can be brought on through a state contract to create more staffed beds in hospitals. As of Wednesday night, 10% of staffed beds were available in Bexar County hospitals. “It creates a problem for someone who could have a medical emergency but doesn’t have COVID, and there’s simply no room at the inn.”STRAC oversees the regional emergency health system for a 22-county area. Epley says the area around Bexar County is seeing similar trends at its hospitals.

SAN ANTONIO Editors Note: Watch the entire briefing in the video player above. 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. Hancock said hes seeing some COVID-19 patients staying in the hospital for weeks due to a longer recovery period. Hancock said Methodist is not using refrigerated trucks, and the health care system is managing its morgue situation. Track daily spikes in COVID-19 cases in San Antonio, Bexar CountyMORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE FROM KSAT:

SAN ANTONIO Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation or ECMO has recently received a lot of attention as a treatment for COVID-19 patients. In San Antonio, Methodist Healthcare System has one of the largest ECMO programs. San Antonio hospital system, city leaders urge residents to skip large gatherings, follow CDC guidelinesDr. Robert Frolichstein, an emergency room doctor with Methodist Hospital, said although he does not work in the intensive care unit, he is aware of the amazing things doctors are doing at Methodist. A Methodist Hospital doctor on the front lines told CNN that he believes the ventilator can lead to more complications in COVID-19 patients. Inside look: San Antonio Methodist Hospital overwhelmed with COVID-19 patientsI think the ventilator really causes a lot of harm.

SAN ANTONIO Methodist Healthcare System and other San Antonio hospitals, are in desperate need for more staff as the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations continues to surge, according to Dr. Robert Frolichstein, an emergency room doctor at Methodist Hospital and the president of Greater San Antonio Emergency Physicians. Frolichstein said he is worried that hospitals will be forced to choose who gets treated and who doesnt if the number of hospitalizations continues to rise. I dont think were there yet, but it is time to start taking this seriously, he said. Coronavirus update San Antonio, June 30: San Antonio shatters daily record with 1,268 new COVID-19 casesWere scrambling to create spaces and create beds. To register, visit: https://t.co/UwCOrlNm2G pic.twitter.com/ZtAavqkOno SA Metro Health (@SAMetroHealth) June 30, 2020Hundreds of nurses will be arriving in San Antonio on Wednesday.

SAN ANTONIO A group of doctors from the Methodist Healthcare System warn that the COVID-19 hospitalization situation is worse than official reports are showing. The official numbers from Sunday night, which were the most recent when the doctors held their press conference on Monday afternoon, showed 27% of the Bexar Countys 4,713 staffed hospital beds were available. Melo said that at that moment, there were 21 COVID-19 patients waiting in the Methodist Hospital Emergency Room for a bed. The site would not be for COVID-19 patients, but rather for lesser injured hospital patients and those recovering from surgeries. The convalescent plasma of recovered COVID-19 patients contains antibodies that could help people who are still fighting the disease.

SAN ANTONIO – Taco Bell and the San Antonio Spurs partnered to deliver free meals to San Antonio Methodist Healthcare System workers. A total of 1,200 meals were delivered as a token of appreciation for the healthcare workers amid the coronavirus pandemic. “Giving back to the community is important to Taco Bell and would not be possible without the leadership of Mark Peterson and Krystal Burge who give us the opportunity to proudly represent our company and the Taco Bell Brand. This was our way to say thank you to our healthcare workers who are true heroes," Russ Cook, regional director, said in a statement. The first case confirmed in the U.S. was in mid-January and the first case confirmed in San Antonio was in mid-February.