COMAL COUNTY, Texas — As Comal County coronavirus cases rise, health officials are seeing more requests for testing.
Monday, there were more than 50 active cases of coronavirus in Comal County. So far, 191 people have tested positive with 127 recovering from the virus. The active cases are much higher than the average of 8-11 per day this time in May.
“Positives in the weeks since Memorial Day weekend have greatly impacted our local restaurant and food services, with many of them having to close due to positive cases among their employees,” said Comal County Public Health Director Cheryl Fraser as she briefed Commissioners at their meeting Thursday.
Although the total number of positive cases may not seem as high as other metro areas, businesses that rely on tourism in Comal County have been hit hard.
“This may be the result of the tourists and maybe the people that came into the county from her higher infected areas such as Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, that were in our local businesses,” said Fraser. “We are talking to each local business and everyone is treated individually. We're not there's no blanket statement to tell them to close or not to close or send everybody home. It's a case by case basis.”
The Public Health Department is also seeing more people make appointments for coronavirus testing.
“The need for that keeps climbing,” said Fraser.
Friday, the county was scheduled to perform at least 150 tests, a record for the drive-thru location.
Appointments can be made by calling Comal County Public Health at: 830-221-1120.
In addition to the site in New Braunfels open Tuesdays and Fridays, a one-day testing opportunity is coming to Spring Branch on Thursday.
Comal ISD, the county and the state are teaming up for the free event.
Registration for the state-supported drive-up testing opens Tuesday.
The event will be held at the Bill Brown Elementary School off Highway 46 in Spring Branch.
To register, call 512-883-2400 or visit www.txcovidtest.org.