Comal County Reports 100 COVID-19 Cases, Five Deaths

Comal County today confirmed another 100 COVID-19 cases and reported five more deaths from the virus.

In a statement, the county said 40 of the new cases are probable and 60 are confirmed,

Dead are:

• A New Braunfels man in his 70s who died Jan. 1 in a New Braunfels hospital
• A New Braunfels woman in her 50s who died Jan. 3 at a New Braunfels hospital
• A New Braunfels man in his 60s who died Jan.3 at a New Braunfels hospital
• A New Braunfels woman in her 80s who died on Jan. 9
• A New Braunfelss woman in her 90s who died on Jan. 12

The county now has 869 active, confirmed-and-probable cases. Of those, 82 are hospitalized. The total number of deceased is now 193.

For the first time the county said two residents confirmed as recovered from COVID-19 relapsed. No additional recoveries were reported. Total recovered is 6,005.

The seven-day molecular positivity rate is 22.47%. The seven-day antigen positivity rate is 9.34%. Trauma Service P — which includes Comal County — is at 22.89%.

On Wednesday, Comal County hospitals reported caring for 81 COVID-19 patients. Of those, 17 are in intensive care and nine are on ventilators. 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 – 74
North of Canyon Lake – 2
South of Canyon Lake – 3
S. Comal County (Garden Ridge) – 2
Bulverde/Spring Branch – 18
Fair Oaks – 1

Age Range of New Cases

Under 20 – 11 (includes one infant under 12 months)
20’s – 11
30’s/40’s – 14
50s/60s – 29
70 and older – 35

Testing Information

As of  morning, Public Health reports

• 50,422 tests conducted
• 4,071 confirmed cases
• 2,985 probable cases
• 11 suspect cases

Location Breakdown of All Cases

Of the 7,067 confirmed-and-probable COVID-19 cases, the location breakdown is:

New Braunfels (includes Eastern and Central Comal) – 5,182
Western Comal County (includes Bulverde and Spring Branch) – 1,000
South of Canyon Lake – 379
North of Canyon Lake – 273
Southern Comal County (includes Garden Ridge and Schertz) – 206
Fair Oaks Ranch – 27

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 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 towards the total case tally. Supportive laboratory evidence means:

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