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 Tuesday night. See the full video in the player above.
Here are a few of the highlights:
- Nirenberg reported 1,677 COVID-19 cases and 52 deaths in Bexar County, as of Tuesday. Two new cases were confirmed at the Bexar County Jail and 23 in the community.
- City officials also reported that 61 patients are hospitalized, 35 are in the intensive care unit and 25 are on ventilators.
- Nirenberg said two staff members and one patient have tested positive for COVID-19 at the San Antonio Behavioral Healthcare Hospital.
- Nirenberg said a strong economy needs healthy people, so he asked businesses to sign a pledge on greatersafersa.com to keep their patrons safe. He said leaders don’t know the impact of what will happen two or three weeks after loosening restrictions, so it’s important for businesses to follow guidance from the Economic Transition Team.
- The leaders said the greatersafersa.com website has some guidelines for business owners to follow as they begin to reopen.
- Wolff spoke about his thoughts on Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to allow the reopening of several other businesses in the coming days and weeks. He encouraged those who visit hair salons to wear a mask since patrons have to be close to the person who is cutting or dyeing their hair.
- Wolff spoke about Clifford Childs, an inmate at the Bexar County Jail who died of COVID-19 complications. He also said there have been 294 positive COVID-19 inmate cases in the jail, and 217 of those have been asymptomatic.
COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus, stands for coronavirus disease 2019. The disease first appeared in late December 2019 in Wuhan, China, but spread around the world in early 2020, causing the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic in March. The first case confirmed in the U.S. was in mid-January and the first case confirmed in San Antonio was in mid-February.
Read Bexar County’s updated executive order below. Newsletter recipients: Click here to read the order.
Read San Antonio’s updated executive order below. Newsletter recipients: Click here to read the order.
MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE FROM KSAT: