13 new COVID-19 deaths reported after ME post-mortem tests

July 10, 2020 steven

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 other local officials updated the community about the local response to COVID-19 in their daily briefing Thursday night.

Here are a few of the highlights:

Nirenberg reported 17,679 total COVID-19 cases and 165 total deaths in Bexar County, as of Thursday, an increase of 954 new cases. Nineteen new deaths were reported today. Six of those deaths were current, and 13 of them occurred over the past three weeks. The older deaths were reported after the medical examiner conducted post-mortem COVID-19 tests on cadavers of people who had symptoms related to the virus but were never tested.
City officials also reported that 1,216 patients are hospitalized, 399 are in the intensive care unit and 231 are on ventilators. There are 11% of staffed beds available and 45% of ventilators available.
Nirenberg said 35% of hospitalizations in the area are related to COVID-19.
The Metropolitan Health District continues to push for mass testing and administered over 1,000 tests at Freeman Coliseum on Wednesday, Nirenberg said.
Dr. Junda Woo, medical director of Metro Health, said 66 of about 100 total residents and one staff member at Windsor Mission Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center have tested positive for COVID-19. She said most of the residents are asymptomatic.
Woo said a lot of the patients at Windsor Mission Oaks may have spread the virus unknowingly because they were asymptomatic.
Woo said nursing homes now have adequate personal protective equipment and availability in testing because of statewide efforts.
Bexar County Commissioner Justin Rodriguez filled in for County Judge Wolff today. He said the area is toeing a dangerous line in terms of hospitalizations. He said Freeman Coliseum has 80 beds set up and has a capacity to add up to 200 over the next few weeks.
Rodriguez said the county is working on two major initiatives — one is to provide more mental health services to health care workers and their families and the other is an enhancement to the mobile crisis team, including the children’s outreach team.
Dr. Ken Davis, chief medical officer of CHRISTUS Santa Rosa, said his health system is in need of 190 nurses to deal with the ongoing pandemic. He said more new nurses started their onboarding process at CHRISTUS today.