A San Antonio state lawmaker is once again taking aim at a state-mandated test that assesses school district and campus performance.

A year and a half in, the pandemic is still agonizing families.

Metro Health confirms there are now six cases of the COVID-19 UK variant identified in Bexar County.

HELOTES, Texas – A Helotes teenager is feeling more confident stepping outside of her house these days after getting the COVID-19 vaccine. And so, when she said that she wanted to do it, I was supportive,” said Judy Ross, Hannah’s mother. Hannah’s parents have also received the COVID-19 vaccine. “She goes to the gym about 25 hours a week now and then competitions,” Judy Ross said. “We’re not worried about if somebody’s not masked or stands too close,” Judy Ross said.

SAN ANTONIO – Recommendations for pregnant women on the COVID-19 vaccine have been confusing, but Dr. Patrick Ramsey, medical director for inpatient OB services at University Health, explains the science behind it, how the vaccine is made, and why pregnant women should get the shot. Basically, we just don’t have a lot of information about the safety, specifically, for pregnant women. We are planning a study here at University Hospital and UT Health to look at the Pfizer vaccine, so we’re excited to see what those results show. Q: Should pregnant women get the COVID-19 vaccine anyway? A: We are recommending that pregnant women do receive the COVID-19 vaccine, either Moderna or the Pfizer vaccine, or the other vaccines that are potentially coming out.

SAN ANTONIO – February is the the American Heart Association’s Heart Month, a time when good heart health should be at the forefront and something that COVID-19 tends to overshadow. Dr. Elaine Maldonado, a pediatric cardiologist at UT Health San Antonio, said increasingly, alarmed parents are bringing their children into her office, worried their loved one is suffering from a heart condition. But stress and anxiety can bring on a lot of these symptoms that would point people towards thinking that they have a heart problem,” Maldonado said. Maldonado said the best way to make sure it’s not the heart is a cardiac evaluation. Once a heart attack is ruled out, the next step should be correcting the situation at home that is causing the anxiety.

SAN ANTONIO – The limitation of having only remote hearings in Bexar County District and County Court at Law courtrooms due to the pandemic has resulted in what Local Administrative Judge Ron Rangel said is “an alarming backlog in the justice system.”There are currently 9,586 pending indicted felony cases compared to 5,758 in March of 2020, which amounts to a 66% increase, Rangel said. Pending indicted misdemeanor cases have also soared. There were 25,103 in March, and currently there are 32,073 pending cases, including fugitive cases. Asked whether the numbers will accelerate when in-person jury trials resume, Rangel said, “I want to make sure that before we delve into starting in person jury trials that the local health conditions indicate that we’re at a certain level that’s here to stay.”Rangel said once that level is reached, things will begin to move quickly. ”Not only will we have jury trials at a very fast clip, I think the individual parties are going to come to agreement fairly rapidly,” he said.

SAN ANTONIO – It is one of the biggest COVID-19 vaccine questions: Should pregnant women get it? The American Academy of Obstetrics and Gynecology is recommending it for all pregnant women, but the World Health Organization has reservations. None of the individuals who were in those trials were pregnant.”AdAs a result, there’s no safety data for Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines in pregnant and breast-feeding women. As well, if a pregnant woman has any of the co-morbidities such as obesity and diabetes, the risk of death increases exponentially. AdModerna plans to establish a registry to begin studying the outcomes of pregnant women and their infants who got the vaccine.

SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio registered nurse who contracted COVID-19 last year said a post-COVID recovery clinic at the South Texas Medical Center changed her life. Hernandez said she contracted COVID-19 in June and went to the emergency room twice. “It started with extreme body aches to the point where I couldn’t get out of bed, and within hours I couldn’t breathe,” Hernandez said. In late August, Hernandez learned about the COVID-19 recovery clinic located at the UT Health San Antonio Medical Arts and Research Center. “I think we’re so blessed to have a clinic here in San Antonio to help us with post-COVID syndrome,” Hernandez said.

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – Some river outfitters in the New Braunfels area are trying to stay afloat after they were forced to stop tube rental and shuttle services Friday as part of Gov. One business owner is hoping for a better solution as she tries to keep her business from going completely dry. City of New Braunfels issues order requiring use of face coveringsWhile profits are down, the number of COVID-19 cases in the area continues to climb. Comal County officials on Tuesday announced 56 new confirmed and probable cases for an all-time high total of 654 cases. I know they’re more contained, but they were told they could stay open.

SAN ANTONIO The North East Independent School District has hit an impressive milestone and has served more than 2 million meals to San Antonio families during the COVID-19 pandemic, the school district said in a press release. The district began to serve the meals when campus closures occurred back on March 16. Day after day for the last three months they have worked so hard to pack the meals, provide food for the kids and offer a sense of normalcy for them. NEISD said it has been their mission to provide healthy meals to students during the COVID-19 health crisis. The district will continue the meal distribution into the summer, with curbside meal pickup at select campuses every Monday and Wednesday.

SAN ANTONIO – H-E-B plans to deliver 75,000 chef-inspired meals to hospitals across Texas for health care workers battling the frontlines of COVID-19. In San Antonio, H-E-B delivered 600 meals to health care workers at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital in the Medical Center on Friday, the release said. “In total, H-E-B will deliver more than 75,000 H-E-B Meal Simple meals to hospitals across Texas.”Doctors, nurses and other health care workers, including those in the emergency room providing care for COVID-19 patients, will be invited to enjoy the meals. H-E-B donates 500,000 meals to food banks in San Antonio, across TexasCOVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus, stands for coronavirus disease 2019. The disease first appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, but spread around the world in early 2020, causing the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic in March.

SAN ANTONIO – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has now officially recommended that everyone but infants should wear a cloth mask or face covering in certain public settings to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In addition, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg announced Monday that Metro Health officials recommend anyone over five years old wear a cloth face covering over their nose and mouth in public. The CDC has a section on its website dedicated to making a homemade face mask or a cloth covering. - Be careful not to touch your eyes, nose, and mouth when removing the face covering and wash your hands immediately after its removed. The cloth face coverings recommended are not surgical masks or N-95 respirators, the CDC says.