Comal County’s Active Cases Jump to 326, 34 New COVID-19 Cases Added Wednesday

Comal County reported 34 new COVID-19 cases today, July 14, as the number of active cases rose from 292 on Tuesday to 326.

Fourteen residents included in active-case count are hospitalized.

The seven-day molecular positivity rate for Wednesday is 6.17%, up from 5.49% on Tuesday. The seven-day antigen positivity rate fell slightly from 10.51% to 10.48%. The TSA P percentage rose from 3.19% to 3.79%.

In a statement today, July 14, Comal County said 19 of the new cases are confirmed, and 15 are probable. No COVID-19 recoveries were reported.

The number of deceased remains 329.

There are still no confirmed cases of the highly contagious Delta variant in the county.

Comal County Public Health Director Cheryl Fraser will update county commissioners on the recent surge in COVID-19 case counts at their weekly meeting Thursday.

On Twitter today, the Texas Department of State Health Services said COVID cases and hospitalizations are rapidly rising due to the Delta variant, and urged Texans to get vaccinated. Vaccines lessen the risk of severe illness and death.

The state reports 1,721 new confirmed cases (seven-day average), 24 fatalities (seven-day average), and 2,436 current hospitalizations.

According to information released today by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the number of COVID-19 cases is going up in over half of U.S. states and territories. The seven-day average of new daily cases is 23,141, up 65.9% from the week before.

On Wednesday, Comal County hospitals reported caring for 24 COVID-19 patients. Of those, four are in intensive care and one is on a ventilator. Not all of these patients are necessarily county residents. Not all county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 are in county hospitals.

Location Breakdown of New Cases

• New Braunfels – 27
• North of Canyon Lake – 3
• South of Canyon Lake – 3
• South Comal County (Garden Ridge) – 0
• Bulverde/Spring Branch – 1
• Fair Oaks – 0

Age Range of New Cases

• Under 20 – 10
• 20s – 6
• 30’s/40’s – 8
• 50s/60s – 7
• 70 and older – 2

Testing Information

As of Wednesday morning, Public Health reports

• 114,865 tests conducted
• 6,243 confirmed cases
• 5,392 probable cases
• 24 suspect cases

Location Breakdown of All Cases

Of the 11,659 confirmed-and-probable COVID-19 cases in Comal County, the location breakdown is:

• New Braunfels (includes Eastern and Central Comal) – 8,281
• Western Comal County (includes Bulverde and Spring Branch) – 1,672
• South of Canyon Lake – 667
• North of Canyon Lake – 565
• Southern Comal County (includes Garden Ridge and Schertz) – 419
• Fair Oaks Ranch – 55

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.

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.