SAN ANTONIO – Editor’s 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 Sunday night.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg said there are 772 positive cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in Bexar County. An additional three deaths were also announced, one of which was from the Southeast Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center. This brings the death toll in Bexar County to 30.
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff announced that a nurse at the jail has tested positive for the virus. He said that’s a “dangerous sign” that the virus could be spreading quickly and to expect more cases at the jail among staff and inmates as more people are tested.
Here are a few of the highlights:
- Mayor Nirenberg reported 772 positive COVID-19 cases in Bexar County, as of Sunday. Three additional deaths were also announced, one of which was reported at the Southeast Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center. The death toll in Bexar County from the virus is now at 30.
- City officials also reported 164 travel-related cases, 281 close-contact cases, 248 community transmission cases, and 79 cases that are still under investigation.
- In San Antonio, 135 patients have fully recovered from COVID-19 and 89 patients are hospitalized with 52 patients in intensive care and 40 on ventilators, according to Mayor Nirenberg.
- Mayor Nirenberg said as of Sunday, 80% of the county’s 742 ventilators are still available for COVID-19 patients.
- Two Bexar County inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 and as of Sunday, a nurse and a maintenance worker at the jail also tested positive for the virus, according to Judge Wolff. He says the revelation about the infected nurse is a “dangerous sign” that the virus could be spreading quickly. To combat the spread in the jail, city officials are working to have inmates’ temperatures checked twice a day and new inmates are being put into a separate pod for 14 days for symptom monitoring. They also hope to have everyone in the jail wear a mask but are in need of equipment.
- Jail access is limited and city officials are assuring residents they are doing all they can to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the Bexar County Jail.
- Wolff said new state restrictions on bail practices and inmate release is making the coronavirus response tougher locally.
- No violations were reported for residents congregating at the city’s parks for Easter celebrations, according to Mayor Nirenberg.
COVID-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.
County executive order in effect until April 30:
MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE FROM KSAT: