County Reports 22 New COVID-19 Cases, Says Vaccine Standby List Will Reopen ‘Soon’

Comal County reported 22 new COVID-19 cases today and said its vaccine standby list will reopen ‘soon.’

In a statement, it urged residents who meet criteria in Phase 1A and Phase 1B of the state’s vaccination plan to check its website (MyComalCounty.com) and Facebook page for further information.

Phase 1A criteria:

• Health care workers
• Long-term care staff
• EMS providers
• Home health care workers
• Residents of long-term care facilities
• Staff in outpatient care settings who interact with symptomatic patients
• Direct-care staff in freestanding emergency medical-care facilities and urgent-care clinics
• Community pharmacy staff
• Public health and emergency-response staff directly involved in administration of COVID testing and vaccinations
• Responders who provide mortuary or death services
• School nurses who provide health care to students and teachers
• Effective immediately, Texas teachers are eligible along with school staff, Headstart program staff and child care staff

Phase 1B Criteria and Vaccine Priorities

This phase provides vaccine to higher-risk people regardless of their work sector or status including critical populations at increased risk of getting COVID-19; communities that are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and other chronic diseases; teachers and school staff who ensure that Texas children can learn in a safe environment; social-services workers; workers who maintain critical infrastructure to support the Texas economy; and other frontline workers unable to work remotely.

• People 65 and up
• People 16 years-of-age and older with at least one chronic medical condition that puts them at risk for severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19. This includes those with
  • Cancer
  • Chronic kidney disease
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
  • Heart conditions such as heart failure, coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathies
  • Solid organ transplantation
  • Obesity and severe obesity (body mass index of 30kg/m-squared or higher)
  • Pregnancy
  • Sickle-cell disease
  • Type 2 diabetes mellitus

Friday’s COVID-19 Statistics

In a statement, the county said 16 of the 22 new cases it reported today are confirmed and six are probable. The total number of cases now stands at 9,268.

The county said it now has 365 active, confirmed-and-probable cases of COVID-19. Of those, 47 are hospitalized.

The total number of deceased remains at 294. The county reported no recoveries today.

The seven-day molecular positivity rate for Comal is now 65.21%. The seven-day antigen positivity rate is 17.21%. The Trauma Service Area (TSA) P percentage for Friday is 7.38%. 

On Friday, Comal County hospitals reported caring for 21 COVID-19 patients. Of those, 10 are in intensive care and eight 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 – 18
• North of Canyon Lake – 0
• South of Canyon Lake – 1
• South Comal County (Garden Ridge) – 0
• Bulverde/Spring Branch – 3
• Fair Oaks – 0

Age Range of New Cases

• Under 20 – 3
• 20’s – 7
• 30’s/40’s – 3
• 50’s/60’s – 5
• 70 and older – 4

Testing Information

As of Friday morning, Public Health reports

• 65,910  tests conducted
• 4,890 confirmed cases
• 4,358 probable cases
• 20 suspect cases

Location Breakdown of All Cases

Of the 9,268 confirmed-and-probable COVID-19 cases, the location breakdown is:

• New Braunfels (includes Eastern and Central Comal) – 6,663
• Western Comal County (includes Bulverde and Spring Branch) – 1,334
• South of Canyon Lake – 526
• North of Canyon Lake – 411
• Southern Comal County (includes Garden Ridge and Schertz) – 291
• Fair Oaks Ranch – 43

Vaccines

The Comal County COVID-19 vaccine standby list is now full and closed but the county said today it anticipates the list will reopen ‘soon.’ Residents interested in receiving a COVID-19 who meet the criteria in Phase 1A and Phase 1B of the State of Texas’ vaccination plan, should visit mycomalcounty.com or check Comal County’s Facebook page for more information about the status of the list. Vaccines will be distributed to the public as they are received by Comal County and according to distribution guidelines established by the state.

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.