Canyon Lake Woman in Her 40s One of Three Deaths Reported by Comal County Tuesday

A Canyon Lake woman in her 40s died of COVID-19 at a San Marcos hospital on Oct. 12.

Hers is one of three deaths reported by Comal County today. A Garden Ridge man in his 70s died of the virus on Sept. 29 at a San Antonio hospital, and a New Braunfels woman in her 70s passed away Oct. 6 at a New Braunfels hospital.

County Public Information Officer Cary Zayas also reported 79 new COVID-19 cases and 479 active, confirmed-and-probable cases of the virus. Of those, 25 residents are hospitalized.

Forty-two of the new cases are confirmed and 37 are probable, she said. Another 113 recoveries were reported, for a total of 18,275. The number of deceased is now 442.

The seven-day molecular positivity rate is 5.22%, and the seven-day antigen positivity rate is 6.87%. The TSA P percentage is 6%.

Comal County hospitals on Tuesday reported caring for 15 COVID-19 patients. Two are in intensive care and two are on ventilators. Approximately 89% of these patients are unvaccinated.

Not all patients in Comal County hospitals are necessarily county residents. Not all county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 are in Comal County hospitals.

Location Breakdown of New Cases

• New Braunfels – 54
• North of Canyon Lake – 3
• South of Canyon Lake – 11
• South Comal County (Garden Ridge) -0
• Bulverde/Spring Branch – 11
• Fair Oaks – 0

Age Range of New Cases

• Under 20 – 12
• 20’s – 9
• 30’s/40’s – 30
• 50’s/60’s – 21
• 70 and older – 7

Testing Information

As of Tuesday morning, Public Health reports

• 186,173 tests conducted
• 11,039 confirmed cases
• 8,133 probable cases
• 24 suspect cases

Location Breakdown of All Cases

Of the 19,196 confirmed-and-probable COVID-19 cases in Comal County, the location breakdown is:

• New Braunfels (includes Eastern and Central Comal) – 12,865
• Western Comal County (includes Bulverde and Spring Branch) – 3,114
• South of Canyon Lake – 1,355
• North of Canyon Lake – 1,126
• Southern Comal County (includes Garden Ridge and Schertz) – 648
• Fair Oaks Ranch – 88

Vaccinations

Comal County’s Public Health Department is now administering Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to those 18 years and older and Pfizer vaccines for anyone 12 years and older.

Those who are moderately to severely immunocompromised and qualify for a third dose can call to schedule an appointment for a vaccine.

Appointments can be made by calling 830-221-1150.

Probable Cases

“Probable case” is a category established by the Texas Department of State Health Services to describe those who do not have a positive PCR test for COVID-19 but meet two of the three criteria:

• Meets clinical criteria and epidemiologic linkage with no confirmatory laboratory testing performed for SARS-CoV-2.
• Meets presumptive laboratory evidence, which is the detection of SARS-CoV-2 by antigen test in a respiratory specimen.
• Meets vital records criteria with no confirmatory laboratory evidence for SARS-CoV-2.

A probable case is treated identically to a confirmed case and counts toward the county’s positivity rate and total case tally.

Suspected Cases

A ‘suspect’ case meets supportive laboratory evidence with no prior history of being a confirmed or probable case. It is also counted toward the total case tally. Supportive laboratory evidence means:

• • Detection of a specific antibody in serum, plasma, or whole blood.
  • Detection of specific antigen by immunocytochemistry in an autopsy specimen.