COVID-19 cases continue increasing throughout County

Hays County continues to see an upward trend in lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19, as does much of the United States.

The Hays County Local Health Department reported three new fatalities related to COVID-19 over the Thanksgiving holiday. All three were from Kyle. There have now been 102 deaths related to COVID-19 in Hays County.

There have been 434 Hays County residents hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those, 16 are currently in the hospital as of Monday, November 30.

The total number of lab-confirmed cases is 7,378. Of those, 6,504 are deemed recovered. The number of confirmed active cases from just the past 21 days is 1,071. That is up from 934 in the previous 21 days reported a week ago and 726 reported two weeks ago. The number of probable cases is 886. The number of negative tests is 51,690.

The Wimberley Valley has had 141 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19, two of which are within the city limits of Woodcreek. Of those, 11 cases are considered active, none of which are within the city of Woodcreek. There have been two fatalities related to COVID-19 within the Wimberley Valley.

Wimberley Independent School District reports the number of COVID-19 cases from people at each individual campus. Since students returned to school in August, there have been 38 cases of COVID-19. Of those, 11 are considered active.

The most COVID-19 cases are centralized at Wimberley High School. As of November 30, there were 22 cases of COVID 19 at the High School. Ten of those cases are active, eight of which are students and two of which are staff. In total, 18 students who attend the high school have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

At Danforth Junior High, four staff members have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and three students. All seven are considered recovered. At Jacob’s Well Elementary no staff members have been diagnosed with COVID-19 while four students have. All are considered recovered. There is a staff member who works at Blue Hole Primary that has an active case of COVID-19 and two students who are considered recovered. Two “multi-campus” staff members are also considered recovered from diagnosis.

Epidemiologist Ian Harris said he is grateful to those who continue to stay home unless necessary, wear masks and stay distanced in public and wash their hands frequently, as well as those who opted for virtual Thanksgiving celebrations.

“While we are all a bit fatigued from COVID,” he said, “it’s critical that we continue to keep our community safe and slow the spread of the virus. We do these things for each other and those among us who are vulnerable.”