COMAL COUNTY, Texas — A new case of coronavirus was reported in Comal County Monday morning. The patient is from New Braunfels, in their 40’s and is self-quarantined. The case is believed to be travel related.
The positive test brings the total number of cases to 22 in Comal County. Only 13 cases are active. Seven people have recovered. Four patients are currently hospitalized.
The new case was the only test result Comal County received since they updated numbers on Saturday.
Countywide, 226 people have been tested for the coronavirus. More than half of the tests came back negative but more than 50 people are still waiting for results.
The Comal County Public Health Department receives test information from public and private labs.
A spokesperson for Comal County says several factors impact when they receive test results.
After a patient is swabbed, the lab results could be available in a few days or more than two weeks later.
The number of test results received by Public Health varies greatly from day to day.
Over the last seven days, the lowest number of test results was received on Monday, with one reported. The highest number of test results received was on Saturday, with 29 reported.
“I believe it’s been reported nationally that private labs are experiencing a delay in returning results, and that’s consistent with our experience as well,” said Comal County spokesperson Paul Anthony.
Dr. Nwando Okafor, who is the Medical Director and CEO of a freestanding ER in New Braunfels, says her patients are seeing similar wait times for test results.
“Typically, they give us a 48-hour turnaround, but realistically, it does take about a week,” said Dr. Okafor.
If a patient is swabbed for the coronavirus at Riverside ER, the sample is sent to Quest labs.
“We're working to see if we can get tests [that] would have a quicker turnaround,” said Dr. Okafor. “I think as the test become more available, and more testing sites open up, that will make it even better for everyone.”
Doctor Okafor says it’s also important to remember some results could be wrong. She read a study where patients with the coronavirus received mixed results upon further testing.
“It was interesting because depending on the day, they had different positives and negatives on the same patients that are known to be positive,” said Dr. Okafor.
She encourages residents who show symptoms to call their doctor and to act as if they have the virus.
“One thing that everybody can do for us is to stay home and not spread it,” said Dr. Okafor.