Thursday: Comal County Reports Two Deaths, 72 New COVID-19 Cases
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Comal County reported two deaths and 72 new cases of COVID-19 today.
A New Braunfels woman in her 80s passed away on Dec. 12 and a man in his 70s passed away on Dec. 1. The total number of deceased is 141.
Forty-nine of the new cases are confirmed and 23 are probable cases. The county now has 781 active, confirmed-and-probable cases of the virus. Of them, 41 are hospitalized.
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 Thursday is 13.97%. The seven-day antigen positivity rate for Wednesday is 13.08%.
The county also confirmed 88 recoveries from COVID-19, for a total of 4,654.
On Thursday, Comal County hospitals reported caring for 55 COVID-19 patients. Of those, 18 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 – 59
North of Canyon Lake – 3
South of Canyon Lake – 3
S. Comal County (Garden Ridge) – 2
Bulverde/Spring Branch – 5
Fair Oaks – 0
Age Range of New Cases
Under 20 – 13
20’s – 14
30’s/40’s – 15
50’s/60’s – 21
70 and older – 9
Testing Information
As of Thursday morning, Public Health reports
- 39,735 tests conducted
- 3,758 confirmed cases
- 1,813 probable cases
- 5 suspect cases
Location Breakdown of All Cases
Of the 5,576 confirmed-and-probable COVID-19 cases, the location breakdown is:
New Braunfels (includes Eastern and Central Comal) – 4,023
Western Comal County (includes Bulverde and Spring Branch) – 842
South of Canyon Lake – 300
North of Canyon Lake – 212
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.
