SAN ANTONIO — Local officials are sounding the alarm. Bexar County is in a reported second wave of coronavirus cases.
On Thursday, Metro Health reported 192 new cases. It is the largest spike reported in a single day since the pandemic started. It is also the third straight night with more than 100 new cases in Bexar County. On Wednesday, 135 were reported, along with 180 on Tuesday.
Metro Health Director Dr. Dawn Emerick said people are becoming more complacent.
"We are entering a second wave," she said.
She said she has seen more people not wearing their masks, or practicing social distancing.
"We better worry right now what is happening," Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said.
Across the state, the numbers are on an upward trend. Local hospitalization numbers are ticking up with 122 patients right now, and 54 are in intensive care in our area.
Overall, Dr. Emerick said, "We can make some association that perhaps this was a result of Memorial Day weekend."
The holiday weekend was really the start of re-opening the state. Dr. Emerick made it clear: protestors hitting the streets for racial and social injustice are not part of the equation as of now.
"Is this spike because of the protest?" she said. "No. It is too early, the way that the whole process of exposure and incubation."
However, could San Antonio could go back to restrictions? Mayor Ron Nirenberg said the governor has taken that control away from local governments, which has made it challenging.
"We don't want to go back to restrictions," the mayor said. "It would be devastating economically and health-wise for us to do that. So, it is dependent on people doing simple things wearing their masks when they are within physical distance of people and washing their hands. And paying attention, as they have been the last few months."
Dr. Emerick also mentioned an issue her team is encountering with case investigations, like contact tracing. She said when they call up people to figure out where they've been or who they could have exposed, she said people are not calling them back.
"We can't stop this disease from spreading," she said. If we are not in partnership with you."
Below are reminders from Metro Health:
- Face Coverings – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continue to encourage people over the age of two to use a cloth face covering when in a public location where it is difficult to maintain a proper social distance. Employers are also encouraged to provide face coverings to employees who are working in close contact or proximity with coworkers and the public where six feet of separation is not feasible.
- People who are sick should stay home and not engage in any activity outside of their home unless it is to seek medical attention. If a member of their household is positive for COVID-19 they should also consider themselves positive and follow the isolation and quarantine measures provided by local, state, or federal health officials.
- While health care providers and others have been marketing and administering COVID-19 antibody testing to consumers, the City and County will work together to protect the community from misleading or inaccurate testing practices. False claims about the reliability of antibody results, and about proof of immunity to COVID-19, place the public’s health at risk. Before receiving an antibody test we encourage the public to review FDA information.
- People must not visit nursing homes, state-supported living centers, assisted living facilities, and long-term care facilities unless to provide critical assistance determined by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
- As required by Ordinance No. 2020-03-19-0180, all public, private, and commercial laboratories operating within the City of San Antonio and performing COVID-19 testing shall report by 5:00 p.m. each day for the prior 24 hour period the number of COVID-19 tests performed; and the number of positive COVID-19 tests to the City’s designated representative for the Emergency Operations Center and the Local Health Authority for the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District. This information will be used solely for public health purposes to monitor the testing conducted in the City of San Antonio and mitigate and contain the spread of COVID-19.
- All businesses and persons should act in good-faith and increase efforts and resources to follow the standard health protocols recommended by the Texas Department of State and Health Services. Health Protocols such as training employees on appropriate cleaning and disinfection, hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, screening employees temperatures before coming into a business, and asking if they have symptoms; are essential to maintaining a healthy environment.