SAN ANTONIO — Bexar County health authorities reported another 5,413 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday – one of the highest single-day tallies of the ongoing pandemic – but the total number of local diagnoses ballooned by more than 12,000 as the omicron variant continues to spread through the community.
Metro Health hasn't provided an explanation for the discrepancy in 6,700 cases, though 718 of them are backlogs. In all, 425,396 county residents have been diagnosed with the coronavirus.
Health officials also reported the San Antonio area's first additional virus-related deaths since Thursday, with seven. A total of 5,013 residents have died from coronavirus complications.
Local hospitals, meanwhile, continue to be tested by omicron. The number of San Antonio-area residents receiving treatment for their symptoms increased for the 25th straight day on Tuesday, this time to 1,197. September 7 was the last time the number of local hospitalizations was that high.
Of those 1,197 patients, 249 are in intensive care and 105 are using ventilators to help them breathe.
A federally operated COVID-19-testing site opened at the Alamodome on Tuesday, a day after Metro Health reported the community's highest single-day count of new cases.
Meanwhile, University of Texas researchers have told KENS 5 that they expect hospitalizations to go up for a few more weeks, adding they predict Texas will double its previous high set in early 2021.
How Bexar County is trending
Vaccine Progress in Bexar County
The following numbers are provided by San Antonio Metro Health. A full breakdown can be found here.
- 1.699 million eligible Bexar County residents have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine as of Thursday, Jan. 13, representing 89.7% of the county's population eligible (those over the age of 4) to receive a vaccination.
- 1.383 million eligible Bexar County residents are fully vaccinated as of Thursday, Jan. 13, representing 73% of the county's population eligible to receive a vaccination.
The CDC states that "when a high percentage of the community is immune to a disease (through vaccination and/or prior illness)," that community will have reached herd immunity, "making the spread of this disease from person to person unlikely."
The City of San Antonio breaks down the vaccination rates by zip code on Metro Health's Vaccination Statistics page.
Coronavirus in Texas
The total number of coronavirus cases in the state since the pandemic began grew by 53,953 on Tuesday, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. That total includes 44,610 new confirmed cases and 9,343 new probable cases. More details can be found on this page.
Tuesday's figures bring the total number of Texans diagnosed with COVID-19 to more than 5.644 million.
An additional 123 Texans have died from virus complications, meanwhile, raising the statewide death toll to 76,123.
Coronavirus symptoms
The symptoms of coronavirus can be similar to the flu or a bad cold. Symptoms include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Most healthy people will have mild symptoms. A study of more than 72,000 patients by the Centers for Disease Control in China showed 80 percent of the cases there were mild.
But infections can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death, according to the World Health Organization. Older people with underlying health conditions are most at risk.
Experts determined there was consistent evidence these conditions increase a person's risk, regardless of age:
- Chronic kidney disease
- COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
- Obesity (BMI of 30 or higher)
- Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from solid organ transplant
- Serious heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathies
- Sickle cell disease
- Type 2 diabetes
- The CDC believes symptoms may appear anywhere from two to 14 days after being exposed.
Human coronaviruses are usually spread...
- Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet).
- Through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.
- Some recent studies have suggested that COVID-19 may be spread by people who are not showing symptoms.
Help stop the spread of coronavirus
- Stay home when you are sick.
- Eat and sleep separately from your family members
- Use different utensils and dishes
- Cover your cough or sneeze with your arm, not your hand.
- If you use a tissue, throw it in the trash.
Find a Testing Location
City officials recommend getting a COVID-19 test if you experience fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, or diarrhea.
Here's a Testing Sites Locator to help you find the testing location closest to you in San Antonio.
Latest Coronavirus Headlines
- Federal COVID-19 testing site opens at the Alamodome
- Coronavirus Tracker: Bexar County shatters record for new cases once again, with 8,982
- New Austin COVID-19 orders go into effect this week
- Texas mother who lost daughter to flu shares importance of getting vaccinated
- Verify: Masks do help those with cedar fever
- Here are San Antonio's pop-up coronavirus vaccine clinics for Jan. 15 to Jan. 22
- Interest in N95 masks grows as omicron cases rise nationwide
- Beijing reports first local omicron case ahead of Olympics
- A digital divide haunts schools adapting to COVID hurdles