San Marcos woman dies of COVID-19; County tallies 118 recoveries

A San Marcos woman in her 80s died from COVID-19, marking the 48th coronavirus-related fatality in Hays County. 

The county also reported Tuesday that 118 additional county residents have recovered from COVID-19 alongside 14 new lab-confirmed cases,  two hospital discharges and no new hospitalizations.

“We continue to see our numbers decline and that is thanks to our residents doing their part to help slow the spread of this virus that has changed our lives over the past five months,” Hays County Epidemiologist Eric Schneider said. “We’ve made it this far and if we work together, we can keep moving back toward life as we knew it before COVID-19.”

There are currently 2,224 active COVID-19 cases — 105 fewer than Monday — and there have been 5,410 total cases since the first diagnosis of the virus within Hays County on March 14. 

With the 118 newly reported recoveries, 3,138 Hays County residents have now recovered from the disease.

There are currently 13 county residents hospitalized by the coronavirus following the fluctuation in hospitalizations and discharges. The county has reported 146 total hospitalizations. Some patients hospitalized by COVID-19 are in hospitals outside of Hays County but are included in the county’s numbers if they reside within the county, the local health department said.

The county has received 24,378 negative tests and is awaiting results from 29 tests. There have been 29,817 tests administered in Hays County.

San Marcos has tallied the most coronavirus cases in the county but saw a decrease Tuesday with 68 fewer cases than Monday.  The city currently has 861 active cases and has had 2,658 total cases.

Kyle now has 836 active cases and has had 1,675 total. Buda has recorded 731 total cases and currently has 343 active cases. Dripping Springs has amassed 91 total cases and has 63 active cases. Wimberley has tallied 87 total cases, including 25 active cases. Austin, within Hays County, currently has 27 active cases and has had 53 total cases. Driftwood has recorded 36 total cases and has 16 active cases. Niederwald has had 30 total cases. Uhland has had 19 total cases and has 12 active cases. Mountain City has had 10 total cases and has seven active cases. 

Maxwell has had nine total cases. Manchaca has had nine total cases and has three active cases. Bear Creek and Woodcreek each have had one total case.

The 20-29-age-range has recorded the most COVID-19 cases with 2,092 total cases recorded Tuesday. 

Nine-hundred-seven county residents diagnosed with the disease are between 30-39 years old. Six-hundred-sixty people diagnosed with the coronavirus are 40-49 years old. Five-hundred-seven residents fall in the 50-59-year-old age range. Four-hundred-seventy-two county residents diagnosed with COVID-19 are between 10-19 years old, 311 are 60-69 years old, 183 are 9 years old or younger, 184 are 70-79 years old and 94 are 80 and older.

According to the local health department, 2,827 females and 2,583 males in Hays County have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

The county’s ethnic breakdown states that 37% of county residents diagnosed with the disease don’t have a specified ethnicity, while 44.7% are Hispanic and 18.3% are non-Hispanic. 

By race, 60.8% of county residents who’ve had COVID-19 are white, 36.6% are unknown or not specified, 2% are Black and 0.5% are Asian. 

The Texas Department of State Health Services reported Tuesday that there have now been 617,333 Texans diagnosed with COVID-19, there have been 12,681 fatalities and there are 4,144 Texans currently hospitalized by the virus. An estimated 514,861 Texans have recovered from the coronavirus, according to the DSHS.

COVID-19 causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks for most people. The disease, however, can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death, especially for older adults and people with existing health problems.