SAN ANTONIO — Officials with San Antonio Metro Health said Wednesday that the COVID-19 Delta variant is estimated to make up about 20 percent of new infections in Bexar County.
The head of the World Health Organization said the COVID-19 delta variant, first seen in India, is “the most transmissible of the variants identified so far.” The WHO also said the lack of available vaccines globally is making the Delta variant's spread even worse.
Assistant City Manager Colleen Bridger explained the process to come up with the estimate.
"The way that we test for variants is we send a subsample of all of the tests to the lab and they will genotype the various results. So I'm not saying that 20 percent of everybody who's tested has tested positive for the the variant," Bridger said. "But, I am saying that based on these sub-testing, we can estimate that about 20 percent of the samples so far are testing positive for the Delta variant. That's consistent with what we're seeing across the rest of the United States."
"The best way to protect yourself from the Delta variant and from other variants that we know of or that will continue to emerge is to be fully vaccinated," Bridger said.
Health experts say the Delta variant may be less resistant to vaccines, but getting a a vaccine is still the best protection.
Health officials also said the numbers currently show the positivity rate is now 3.8 percent in Bexar County, up from around 1 percent the previous week. Assistant City Manager Colleen Bridger said Wednesday that is due to a drop in testing being done this week.
This comes after a visit to San Antonio earlier this week by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The secretary was in town to help promote and encourage the importance of the vaccine in the fight against COVID-19.
This also comes after an announcement by the City of San Antonio about a partnership with the Spurs to offer incentives for getting the vaccine.
In the county, 40 patients are in the ICU and 21 people are on ventilators due to COVID-19.
As of June 30, 73.7 percent of Bexar County residents had received at least one vaccine dose and 59.8 percent of people are fully vaccinated. Click here for a full breakdown of vaccine numbers in Bexar County.
The Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines are being offered throughout San Antonio at many pharmacies, stores and health care centers on a walk-in basis. For a full list of places where you can get a vaccine, click here.