Comal County Reports 40 New COVID-19 Cases Monday but Little Else after Legislature Removes Funding for Texas Health Trace
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Comal County reported 40 new COVID-19 cases today but few other details about the state of the virus.
Today’s statement from Public Information Officer Cary Zayas was the first issued since the Texas legislature’s Sept. 1 decision to defund the Texas Health Trace system went into effect, and the state reverted to using the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System, which has limited reporting capacity.
“Individual cases will no longer be investigated,” Comal County Public Health Director Cheryl Fraser said in a statement last week. “The focus will shift to investigating hospitalizations, deaths, and defined outbreaks such as outbreaks within nursing homes and long-term care facilities. We will not be able to access information on active cases, recoveries, regional location, and age category. Missing data also means that we won’t be able to calculate a positivity rate.”
The county’s new dashboard shows only the number of new COVID-19 cases per day, total COVID-19 cases, total hospitalized for COVID-19 in county, and total COVID-19 deaths.
Until today, Comal County issued daily updates about the ages of those who tested positive for the virus, their locations, and kinds of cases (probable v. confirmed) reported along with positivity rates.
According to Comal County, hospitals today are caring for 16 COVID-19 patients. Two are in intensive care and one is on a ventilator. Approximately 100% of these patients are unvaccinated. Not all COVID-positive patients hospitalized in Comal County are necessarily county residents.
No deaths were reported. The total number remains 455. Total cases reported since March 2020 now stands at 19,530.
Some 64.44% of Comal County residents are fully vaccinated.
The county’s health department is administering Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for those 18 and older and Pfizer vaccines for anyone 12 years and older. Those who are moderately to severely immunocompromised and qualify for a third dose also can call to schedule an appointment for a vaccine. Appointments can be made by calling 830-221-1150.
