Two days after giving a major speech on the county’s COVID-19 response at a crowded North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce event, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff has tested positive for the virus.
“On Wednesday, I woke up with congestion thinking it was a head cold,” he said on Twitter Friday. “This morning, after no improvement, my wife Tracy and I took a PCR test and we both tested positive for COVID-19.”
“We do not know the strain nor how we came into contact with the virus,” said Wolff. “We are experiencing mild symptoms and are receiving treatment and care at home.”
Wolff, 81, shared a stage with San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg at Wednesday’s State of the County event in a ballroom at the Grand Hyatt hotel. Before an audience of about 450 people, the two discussed their efforts to push back against Gov. Greg Abbott in enacting stricter COVID-19 restrictions at the beginning of the pandemic.
“We have notified those that I have been in close contact with, including those I most closely interacted with at the State of the County address on Wednesday,” Wolff said in his statement.
COVID-19 cases are on the rise locally as well as nationwide. Shortly after Wolff’s tweet, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus tweeted that he, too, had tested positive earlier this week and was recovering at home. In three days this week, the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District reported a total of almost 900 cases new cases and a positivity rate of 9.7%. As a state, Texas is registering an uptick in cases, too.
During his talk Wednesday, Wolff alluded to the need for continued vigilance against the coronavirus.
“It’s out there. It’s still around,” he said. “Those that have a problem, [an] underlying health issue, they do need to be very careful. You know, those of us that have built up our immunities, got our shots, I think we’re going to be OK. But it’s still out there and the vulnerable still could get themselves in serious trouble.”
