Friday: Comal County Reports 108 New COVID-19 Cases, 144 Recoveries
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Comal County reported 108 new cases of COVID-19 and 144 recoveries today, bringing its total to 5,684 cases since reporting began in March.
Ninety-eight of the new cases are in New Braunfels. The majority of them are reported in residents in their 20’s, 30’s/40’s and 50’s/60’s.
Eleven of the new cases are confirmed, 93 are probable cases, and five are suspect cases. The county now has 745 active, confirmed-and-probable cases of the virus. Of them, 40 are hospitalized. The total number of deceased remains at 141.
The county said it now follows State of Texas Department of State Health Services’ new guidelines for reporting the seven-day positivity rate. The positivity rate is split into two categories:
- Molecular – Calculates the percent positive only for PCR tests.
- Antigen – Calculaes percent positive only for antigen tests.
Comal County’s seven-day molecular positivity rate for Friday is 13.89%. The seven-day antigen positivity rate for Friday is 17.22%.
On Friday, Comal County hospitals reported caring for 58 COVID-19 patients. Of those, 18 are in intensive care and 10 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 – 98
North of Canyon Lake – 3
South of Canyon Lake – 6
S. Comal County (Garden Ridge) – 0
Bulverde/Spring Branch – 1
Fair Oaks – 0
Age Range of New Cases
Under 20 – 14
20’s – 20
30’s/40’s – 46
50s/60s – 25
70 and older – 3
Testing Information
As of Thursday morning, Public Health reports
- 40,167 tests conducted
- 3,769 confirmed cases
- 1,906 probable cases
- 9 suspect cases
Location Breakdown of All Cases
Of the 5,684 confirmed-and-probable COVID-19 cases, the location breakdown is:
New Braunfels (includes Eastern and Central Comal) – 4,121
Western Comal County (includes Bulverde and Spring Branch) – 843
South of Canyon Lake – 306
North of Canyon Lake – 215
Southern Comal County (includes Garden Ride and Schertz) – 178
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.
