Twenty-four more cases of coronavirus were confirmed Wednesday in Bexar County, as the local death toll stayed at nine.
The increase comes in the wake of revelations Wednesday about an outbreak at a local nursing home facility. San Antonio Fire Department officials on Wednesday confirmed the facility has had 12 positive diagnoses among residents and staff. One of the residents died Tuesday. Officials were later notified of two additional cases at the nursing home, bringing the outbreak to 14 total cases.
Of the 229 cases revealed in a Wednesday evening update, 66 have been identified as cases of community transmission, where the source of transmission cannot be traced. The rest of the cases have either been travel-related, by close contact with someone who contracted the virus, or are being investigated. With two additional nursing home cases that were not included in the Wednesday report, the total case count now stands at 231.
“At this time we still have more pending tests,” City spokeswoman Laura Mayes said. “In the next couple of days we will confirm the rest of the results.”
The city will hold a moment of silence at 9:20 a.m. in remembrance of the nine people that have so far died from the disease.
“I invite everyone in the city to join us as we remember those who we have lost and those that continue to remember,” Mayor Ron Nirenberg said at a Wednesday press briefing.
In light of the news about the nursing home outbreak, Nirenberg urged all nursing home facilities, residents, and relatives of residents to observe the precautions prescribed in the local Stay Home, Work Safe order, which include restricting unnecessary visitation, canceling group activities and communal dining, and closely monitoring residents as well as employees.
“Please do not take the chance of exposing our most vulnerable residents to illness. Communicate with your loved ones but do it by phone, by FaceTime, by Skype, or by videoconference,” Nirenberg said. “And do not visit them in person if you don’t have to.”
