SAN ANTONIO – Bexar County officials announced Monday that the county’s businesses now operating at 75% capacity will have to cut back to 50% capacity and all bars must close due to a rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations in the region. The measures go into effect Tuesday.
The cutbacks were mandated in Gov. Abbott’s Executive Order GA-32 that went into effect in October. That order allowed certain venues to open up to 75% capacity unless they were located in a Trauma Service Area with seven consecutive days where the number of COVID‑19 hospitalized patients exceeded 15% of the total hospital capacity. County officials said that threshold was met on Sunday.
Bexar County is located in Trauma Service Area P.
The order states that 50% occupancy limits are now in effect for most businesses. The limits also apply for amusement parks, zoos, aquariums, museums, libraries, natural caverns and similar facilities as well as collegiate and professional sporting events.
There are no occupancy limits for churches, local government operations and any services listed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Child care facilities and public and private schools are also exempt from the order.
In addition to reducing capacity to 50% and bar closures, all elective surgeries are also suspended, effective immediately.
Earlier on Monday, Comal County officials announced the same restrictions there.
These are the dates and percentages affecting TSA P as per the Department of State Health Services:
- Dec. 21- 15.13%
- Dec. 22- 15.67%
- Dec. 23- 16.23%
- Dec. 24- 16.09%
- Dec. 25- 16.39%
- Dec. 26- 16.88%
- Dec. 27- 15.97%
The restrictions will remain in place until the TSA P is below 15% for seven consecutive days.
The following counties are in Trauma Service Area P and are affected by this order:
- Atascosa
- Bandera
- Bexar
- Comal
- Dimmit
- Edwards
- Frio
- Gillespie
- Gonzales
- Guadalupe
- Karnes
- Kendall