Bexar County COVID-19 property tax grows by 291

SAN ANTONIO – Editor’s note: Check out the full briefing in the video player above. Newsletter recipients can click here to access the video.

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg on Wednesday announced 291 new COVID-19 cases.

The additional cases bring the cumulative total of Bexar County to 43,455. The seven-day average of new cases now stands at 259 cases per day.

Nirenberg also confirmed 26 new COVID-19 deaths, bringing the death toll to 545. The new dead were examined between 12 and 11 August. The mayor said 261 dead remain under investigation.

Officials reported 710 Bexar County residents are hospitalized due to COVID-19, down from 720 on Tuesday. Of those patients, 309 are in the intensive care unit and 213 patients are on ventilators.

Nirenberg says that while the number of hospitalizations is moving in the right direction, it is moving very slowly.

As of Wednesday, 15% of manned hospital beds and 52% of ventilators are available in Bexar County.

The stress score for health care system is now “high.”

Nirenberg said the South Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC) will present an updated COVID-19 model later this week. He said the new model will project at the end of September.

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said he gave a new county order Wednesday to close county parks for Labor Day weekend. He said the parks would close from Sept. 4 to 11:59 a.m. to Sept. 11:59 p.m. He said the mandate is similar to those issued this year for the Easter and July 4 weekends to keep people safe.

Although hospitalizations in Texas are slowly improving, there is still cause for concern.

According to the state Department of Health Services, on Tuesday, the rolling average of positive cases over the past seven days jumped to 24%, the highest figure since the start of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, testing in Texas has dropped below 30,000 for the first time since June, which officials said could be due to a drop in demand.

New Bexar County Order: