Building COVID-19 immunity through exposure not a good idea, health officials say

Three new deaths reported by Metro Health dashboard

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Metropolitan Health District officials say it’s not a good idea to intentionally expose yourself to the virus amid strained hospital resources.

Monday’s COVID-19 Numbers

Metro Health’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 7,023 new cases and a 7-day moving average of 5,534 cases. There were three new deaths reported, according to the data. Forty-one new deaths have been reported over the past seven days, totaling 5,047 since the pandemic began.

RELATED: Order free COVID-19 tests from the government

There are 1,257 COVID patients in local hospitals with 266 in ICU and 123 on ventilators. Metro Health’s dashboard shows there are 12% of staffed beds available and 61% of ventilators available.

See more of today’s COVID-19 statistics and city resources for the public here.

Dr. Junda Woo, medical director of Metro Health, said resources and personnel at area hospitals are limited. She said it’s not a good idea to intentionally expose yourself to the virus in an effort to build immunity.

“The better way to get immunity without additional risk is by being vaccinated. We’ve seen people get delta and then get omicron, so the the immunity is still up in the air,” Woo said.

City health officials offer the following testing guidelines

  • Consider using a self-test before joining indoor gatherings with others who are not in your household.
  • A positive self-test result means that you have an infection and should avoid indoor gatherings to reduce the risk of spreading the disease to someone else.
  • A negative self-test result means that you may not have an infection. Repeating the test with at least 24 hours between tests will increase the confidence that you are not infected.
  • Ask your health care provider if you need help interpreting your test results.

Click here to access more information about other city no-cost testing sites.

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About the Author

Ivan Herrera, MSB, has worked as a journalist in San Antonio since 2016. His work for KSAT 12 and KSAT.com includes covering consumer and money content, news of the day and trending stories.

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