San Antonio’s COVID positivity rate nearly doubled in a week

That means 11.2% of all people tested for COVID-19 in San Antonio and Bexar County last week tested positive for the virus.

In recent weeks, however, the number of people tested in Bexar County has fallen 61%, a drop that Metro Health officials called significant.

But another indicator that the virus is on the rise again can be seen in the city’s rate of COVID-19 cases, which rose to 11.2 per 100,000 people. This is an increase from a rate of 5.5 per 100,000 people in just one week.

The city’s risk level has now changed from “low” to “mild” and has been reported as “aggravating”.

“Our positivity rate has increased very significantly,” said Dr. Jan Patterson, infectious disease specialist at UT Health San Antonio, in an interview on Tuesday. “I think it’s a concern.

“It’s pretty clear that COVID is not going to go away. It will be with us. It has turned into what we call endemic – it has spread to every county, every city. It’s not something that is going to be totally eradicated, at least not anytime soon … It is something that we are going to have to live with.

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Metro Health officials declined to comment on the rising numbers on Tuesday, noting that they will join officials from Bexar County and University Health in holding a press briefing on the developments at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. They are expected to launch another public appeal for all eligible residents to be vaccinated.

Because COVID-19 is on the rise locally again, the pressure to get everyone vaccinated should be stepped up, Patterson said. The delta variant of the virus has already appeared in San Antonio and Bexar County and is much more transmissible, she noted.

“For the best protection for everyone, you need to get vaccinated so you don’t end up in the hospital or die,” she said Tuesday.

Health officials have seen “groundbreaking cases” – COVID-19 infections occur in fully vaccinated people – especially in the past two weeks, Patterson said. “But the cases have been mild,” she said. “Usually these people got them from people who weren’t vaccinated.

“Even though we have been very successful with vaccinations in our community, there are still a lot of people who are not vaccinated. So it ends up transmitting cases.

As of Tuesday, more than one million residents of Bexar County – 61% of the eligible population – had been fully vaccinated against the virus, city officials said. Meanwhile, more than 1.2 million people in Bexar County, or 74% of the eligible population, have received at least one dose.

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