COVID-19 cases climb quickly in July

The active COVID-19 case count for both the Wimberley Valley and Hays County increased exponentially in the month of July.

At the end of June, there were 11 active cases of COVID-19 in Wimberley, one of which was within the Woodcreek city limits. At the end of July, there were 83 active cases of COVID-19 in Wimberley, one of which is in the Woodcreek city limits. That represents a 650% increase in current, active cases in the last month.

(Editor’s Note: These numbers reflected the month of July. The first report of August on Monday shows the Wimberley Valley has 103 active cases, nearly a 25% increase since Friday.)

Similar numbers were seen across the county as Hays County as a whole saw its active COVID-19 case count nearly quintuple during July.

The county’s active count rose from 177 on July 2 to 1,028 on Friday, July 30.

While the increase is staggering, the totals have not yet reached the heights of the last wave of cases that spiked throughout the winter. The record for active cases in the Wimberley Valley is 158, which peaked on January 25 and dropped to as low as seven on June 11.

The Hays County Local Health Department also reported Friday that an 80-year-old Kyle man recently died of COVID-19, raising the coronavirus death toll to 269. There have been 15 COVID-19 related deaths in the Wimberley Valley, three of which were people living within the city limits of Woodcreek.

The county tallied an additional 186 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases, 72 recoveries and two hospitalizations on Friday, which included information from July 29-30.

The county considers 1,028 cases active — 113 more than Wednesday of last week— and there have been 20,496 total cases since the first diagnosis of the virus within its boundaries on March 14, 2020. Hays County has tallied 1,267 COVID-19 cases over the past 21 days. There have been 2,277 probable cases spanning from April 2020 through July 30, 2021.

Thirty-one county residents are currently hospitalized by COVID-19 and there have been 973 total hospitalizations.

There have been 19,199 county residents who have recovered from the coronavirus following the 72 recoveries recorded Friday.

The local health department has received 192,017 negative tests and there have been 212,153 tests administered in Hays County. The positivity rate for Friday’s report was 10.22%. Following its weekly audit, the county removed two cases from its total count for duplicate or out of county records.

The Texas Department of State Health Services has conducted random testing for positive cases of the Delta variant and there have been no positive Delta cases in Hays County. But officials warn that the Delta variant may be present in Hays County despite no official positive result.

San Marcos recorded 42 new cases between Thursday and Friday. The city currently has 247 active cases — 21 more than Wednesday — and there have been 7,117 total cases.

Kyle has recorded 6,554 total cases, including 338 active cases. Buda has tallied 3,707 total cases and currently has 253 active cases. Dripping Springs has amassed 1,063 total cases and has 44 active cases. Wimberley has counted 874 total cases, including 82 active cases with one additional case within the city limits of Woodcreek. Woodcreek has had 11 total cases. Austin, within Hays County, has had 600 total cases and has 27 active cases. Driftwood has recorded 275 total cases with 19 cases considered active. Niederwald has had 104 total cases, including three active cases. Maxwell has had 57 total cases with four active cases.

Mountain City has amassed 52 total cases with three currently considered active. Uhland has had 40 total cases and has one active case. Manchaca has recorded 28 total cases and four active cases

Creedmoor has recorded six total cases, including two active cases. Bear Creek has amassed five total cases. Hays has reported three total cases.

The 20-29-age-range has recorded the most COVID-19 cases with 5,702 total cases tallied Friday. There are currently 233 active cases among 20-29 year olds in Hays County.

According to the local health department, 3,166 county residents diagnosed with the disease are between 10-19 years old, including 144 cases considered active; 3,176 are 30-39 years old with 222 with active cases; 2,787 people fall in the 40-49-year-old age range with 147 cases considered active; 2,009 are between 50-59 years old, including 82 active cases; 1,390 are 9 years old or younger with 93 cases considered active; and 1,277 county residents diagnosed with the coronavirus are 60-69 years old and 64 are considered active cases.

Six-hundred-thirty-five Hays County residents who’ve contracted COVID-19 are 70-79 years old, including 31 active cases; and 354 are 80 and older with 12 cases currently active.

The local health department reported that 10,713 females and 9,783 males in Hays County have been diagnosed with COVID-19. There are currently 536 active cases among females in the county and there are 492 active cases among males.

The county’s ethnic breakdown stated 49.3% of county residents diagnosed with the coronavirus are Hispanic, while 35.4% of county residents diagnosed with the disease are non-Hispanic and 15.4% don’t have a specified ethnicity.

By race, 69.3% of county residents who’ve had COVID-19 are white, 25.5% are unknown or not specified, 3.1% are Black, 1% are listed as other, 1% are Asian and 0.1% are American Indian.

The Texas Department of State Health Services reported the highest number of new COVID-19 cases Friday since February 2 with 13,871 additional cases recorded. There have now been 2,641,702 Texans diagnosed with COVID-19 and 52,041 fatalities as of Friday. There are currently 5,846 Texans hospitalized by the coronavirus, according to the DSHS. The statewide positivity rate as of Friday is 16.68%.

COVID-19 VACCINE SIGNUP

To make an appointment for a vaccine shot, visit https://www.haysinformed.com. From there you can use the new online scheduler to find a time and location that works best for you. According to the DSHS, 107,201 Hays County residents have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Friday, approximately 54.69% of 195,999 eligible residents who are 12 years or older. Additionally, 126,475 county residents have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose — 64.53% of the eligible population.

“No appointment needed” vaccine clinics are available Monday-Friday at Live Oak Community Clinic, 401 Broadway, in San Marcos between 8:30- 11:30 a.m. and 1-4 p.m. Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are available at this clinic.

Every Thursday and Friday, a Pfizer vaccine clinic takes place at Communicare in Kyle at 2810 Dacy Lane from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.