County reports 69 new COVID-19 cases, urges residents stay vigilant

Hays County reported 69 new cases of COVID-19 Monday after a record breaking weekend of 196 new cases between Saturday and Sunday. 

There are now 666 active cases and there have been 938 since the first coronavirus diagnosis in Hays County on March 14. 

“With the high numbers of positive cases over the past week or so,” county Epidemiologist Eric Schneider said. “I want to remind Hays County residents that we are still in a global pandemic.”

The Hays County Local Health Department has now received 4,824 negative tests and is awaiting results on 112 tests. 

There are currently 14 county residents hospitalized by the disease and there have been 46 total hospitalizations. 

Schneider said if people want to stop the spread of the virus, they should continue doing the things they were doing in the spring, including wearing masks, staying physically distanced from others and washing their hands often. “We need everyone to continue working together and protecting our community,” he said.

The local health department reported one additional recovery, marking 267 county residents who have recovered from COVID-19. 

Hays County has had five reported COVID-19-related fatalities since the first diagnosis of the disease.  

San Marcos has surpassed Kyle for the most amount of COVID-19 cases in Hays County with 400 active cases and 481  total cases. 

Kyle raised its active case count to 182 and total count to 300. 

Buda increased its total case count to 98 and active case count to 61. Wimberley now had 16 total cases and seven active cases. 

Dripping Springs has amassed 10 total cases and has four active cases. Austin, within Hays County has had 11 total cases, including six active cases. Driftwood has had five total cases. Niederwald has had four total cases and has two active cases. Bear Creek, Uhland and Maxwell have each had one case. 

The 20-29 age group continues to see the largest increase in COVID-19 cases. Four-hundred-seventy-six county residents diagnosed with the disease are in the 20-29 age range. One-hundred-forty are between 30-39 years old. Ninety-eight residents fall in the 50-59-year-old age range. Eighty-nine people diagnosed with the disease are 40-49 years old. Forty-one patients are 60-69 years old, 40 are between 10-19 years old, 24 are 70-79 years old, 15 are 80 and older and 15 are 9 years old or younger. 

Five-hundred-seven females and 431 males in Hays County have been diagnosed with the coronavirus.

Additionally, Hays County recently began reporting a breakdown of cases by ethnicity and race. According to the local health department, 45.1% of county residents diagnosed with COVID-19 are Hispanic, while 29.2% are non-Hispanic and 25.7% are not specified. 

By race, 63.3% of county residents who’ve had COVID-19 are white, 33.3% are unknown or not specified, 2.4% are black and 1% are Asian. 

The Texas Department of State Health Services reported Monday that 89,108 Texans have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and there have been 1,983 fatalities. The DSHS estimates that 59,089 Texans have recovered from the disease.

COVID-19 causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks for most people.

Schneider continues to stress the importance of wearing a mask in public, washing hands frequently and staying 6 feet away from others while outside the home. 

“We want everyone to remember why we do these things,” Schneider said. “It’s to protect our community.” 

This story has been updated since first publication.