Comal County reported 76 new cases of COVID-19 today.

Eighteen of them are confirmed and 58 are probable cases. The county now has 773 active, confirmed-and-probable COVID-19 cases. Of those, 40 residents are hospitalized. The total number of deceased remains at 141.

Comal County’s seven-day molecular positivity rate for Monday is 17.13%. The seven-day antigen positivity rate is 17.92%.

Monday, Comal County hospitals reported caring for 65 COVID-19 patients. Of those, 16 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 – 51
North of Canyon Lake – 4
South of Canyon Lake – 2
S. Comal County (Garden Ridge) – 1
Bulverde/Spring Branch – 17
Fair Oaks – 1

Age Range of New Cases

Under 20 – 12
20’s – 14
30’s/40’s – 19
50s/60s – 24
70 and older – 7

Testing Information

As of Monday morning, Public Health reports

• 40,513 tests conducted
• 3,787 confirmed cases
• 1,964 probable cases
• 9 suspect cases

Location Breakdown of All Cases

Of the 5,760 confirmed-and-probable COVID-19 cases, the location breakdown is:

New Braunfels (includes Eastern and Central Comal) – 4,172
Western Comal County (includes Bulverde and Spring Branch) – 860
South of Canyon Lake – 308
North of Canyon Lake – 219
Southern Comal County (includes Garden Ride and Schertz) – 179
Fair Oaks Ranch – 22

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.