Comal County Reports 94 New Cases of COVID-19, Two Deaths on Tuesday

Comal County reported 94 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths today, bringing the number of active cases to 785. Of those, 37 are hospitalized.

A man in his 60s passed away on Dec. 12 and a woman in her 70’s died on Dec. 11. The total number of deceased is now 138.

Thirteen of the new cases are confirmed and 81 are probable cases.

The seven-day positivity rate for Tuesday in Comal County is 26.18%, down from 29.58% on Monday.

The county also confirmed an additional 77 recoveries from the virus, for a total of 4,502.

On Tuesday, Comal County hospitals reported caring for 54 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.

Comal County’s Public Health Department urges residents to follow CDC guidelines for wearing a face covering, social distancing, staying home when sick and using proper hand hygiene.

Location Breakdown of New Cases

New Braunfels – 73
North of Canyon Lake – 2
South of Canyon Lake – 6
S. Comal County (Garden Ridge) – 0
Bulverde/Spring Branch – 13
Fair Oaks – 0

Age Range of New Cases

Under 20 – 9
20’s – 9
30’s/40’s – 25
50’s/60’s – 25
70 and older – 22

Testing Information

As of Monday morning, Public Health reports

• 39,154 tests conducted
• 3,658 confirmed cases
• 1,762 probable cases
• 5 suspect cases

Location Breakdown of All Cases

Of the 5,425 confirmed-and-probable COVID-19 cases, the location breakdown is:

New Braunfels (includes Eastern and Central Comal) – 3,907
Western Comal County (includes Bulverde and Spring Branch) – 825
South of Canyon Lake – 292
North of Canyon Lake – 206
Southern Comal County (includes Garden Ride and Schertz) – 174
Fair Oaks Ranch – 21

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.