Fourth wave of COVID-19 reaches Wimberley

The fourth wave of COVID-19 has come quickly with cases rising from a few dozen a day in Hays County a few weeks ago to more than 300 a day in the latter part of last week.

As of the report on December 7 from the Hays County Local Health Department, there were 17 active cases of COVID-19 in the Wimberley Valley rising to 19 on December 13 and 24 on December 20. On December 28, there were 72 active cases in Wimberley. On December 29 there were 130 active cases, and on December 31, the last day the county reported before the Wimberley View’s time of press, there were 166 active cases in the Wimberley Valley. None of the active cases are reported within the city limits of Woodcreek.

The anecdotal evidence of the increase in cases was apparent throughout the New Years weekend when at least four local restaurants and bars temporarily closed down citing the increase in COVID-19. The Curative testing location at the Wimberley Community Center went from a slow trickle of testers to seemingly full capacity with the wait time for scheduled appointments reaching well over an hour on December 30.

That mirrors the increase across the county. In the second full week of December, the Hays County Local Health Department reported 185 new active cases, which was similar to the 179 reported the week prior and the 196 reported the week before that. However, on December 28, there were 1,229 new cases reported from the previous week across the county and over the next three days an additional 1,298 cases were reported.

As of December 31, Hays County has reported 33,537 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of those, 30,430 are considered recovered with 2,693 still active. There have been 414 COVID-related fatalities, 28 of which are in the Wimberley Valley.

Hays County has had a total of 1,420 total COVID-related hospitalizations and 15 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 at the time of the report. Of those, 13 people were unvaccinated representing 87%. Seven people who were unvaccinated were hospitalized in the ICU without a ventilator along with one person who was vaccinated. Two unvaccinated people were in the ICU with a ventilator. There were five additional people hospitalized who were not in the ICU, four of which were unvaccinated.

As coronavirus cases continue to increase in Hays County, the local health department stresses the importance of taking precautions to limit the spread, including frequent hand washing, social distancing and wearing a mask indoors around large groups of people.

San Marcos has recorded 10,961 total cases, including 872 active cases. Kyle has recorded 10,893 total cases, including 840 active cases. Buda has tallied 6,245 total cases and currently has 537 active cases. Dripping Springs has amassed 1,555 total cases and has 105 active cases. Austin, within Hays County, has had 975 total cases and has 95 active cases. Driftwood has recorded 519 total cases with 33 cases considered active. Niederwald has had 166 total cases including 18 active cases. Maxwell has had 100 total cases, including 17 active cases. Mountain City has amassed 94 total cases and has 11 active cases. Uhland has had 74 total cases with eight considered active. Manchaca has recorded 65 total cases and one active case. Woodcreek has recorded 13 total cases, none of which are active. Bear Creek has amassed eight total cases. Creedmoor has recorded seven total cases. Hays has reported three total cases.