San Marcos man dies of COVID-19; County records 195 new cases Friday

A San Marcos man in his 80s recently died of COVID-19, the Hays County Local Health Department reported Friday. 

Hays County has recorded 289 coronavirus-related fatalities since the pandemic’s onset. 

The local health department also tallied an additional 195 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases, 104 recoveries, five hospitalizations and two hospital discharges on Friday. 

The county considers 2,219 cases active — 90 more than Thursday — and there have been 22,689 total cases since the first diagnosis of the virus within its boundaries on March 14, 2020. Hays County has tallied 2,781 COVID-19 cases over the past 21 days. There have been 2,550 probable cases spanning from April 2020 through Aug. 13, 2021.

Forty-nine county residents are currently hospitalized by COVID-19 — 41 who are unvaccinated and eight who are fully vaccinated, according to the local health department. There have been 1,074 total hospitalizations as of Friday.

There have been 20,181 county residents who have recovered from the coronavirus with the 104 recoveries recorded Friday.

The local health department has received 205,579 negative tests and there have been 228,268 tests administered in Hays County. The positivity rate for Friday's report was approximately 15.05%. During its weekly audit, the county removed 16 cases from its total count due to out of county or duplicate records. 

The Texas Department of State Health Services has conducted random testing for positive cases of the Delta variant and there has been one confirmed positive Delta case detected in Hays County. The county, however, stated that the case is no longer considered active.

San Marcos recorded 78 new cases Friday. The city currently has 688 active cases — 54 more than Thursday — and there have been 7,793 total cases. 

Kyle has recorded 7,354 total cases, including 807 active cases. Buda has tallied 4,130 total cases and currently has 423 active cases. Dripping Springs has amassed 1,128 total cases and has 63 active cases. Wimberley has counted 1,005 total cases, including 131 active cases. Austin, within Hays County, has had 650 total cases and has 54 active cases. Driftwood has recorded 303 total cases with 28 cases considered active. Niederwald has had 110 total cases, including six active cases. Mountain City has amassed 62 total cases with 10 currently considered active. Maxwell has had 55 total cases with three active cases. Uhland has had 41 total cases and has one active case. Manchaca has recorded 29 total cases and one active case.

Woodcreek has one active case and has recorded 12 total. Creedmoor has recorded eight total cases, including two active cases. Bear Creek has amassed six total cases with one case considered active. Hays has reported three total cases.

The 20-29-age-range has recorded the most COVID-19 cases with 6,214 total cases tallied as of Friday. 

According to the local health department, 3,560 county residents diagnosed with the disease are between 30-39 years old; 3,516 county residents who contracted COVID-19 are between 10-19 years old; 3,083 people fall in the 40-49-year-old age range with 290 cases considered active; 2,229 are between 50-59 years old; 1,608 are 9 years old or younger; and 1,398 county residents diagnosed with the coronavirus are 60-69 years old.

Six-hundred-ninety-eight Hays County residents who've contracted COVID-19 are 70-79 years old, and 383 are 80 and older.

The local health department reported that 11,751 females and 10,759 males in Hays County have been diagnosed with COVID-19. There are currently 1,102 active cases among females in the county and there are 1,027 active cases among males. 

The county’s ethnic breakdown stated 49.45% of county residents diagnosed with the coronavirus are Hispanic, while 35.7% of county residents diagnosed with the disease are non-Hispanic and 14.85% don’t have a specified ethnicity.

By race, 69.3% of county residents who’ve had COVID-19 are white, 25.5% are unknown or not specified, 3.1% are Black, 1% are listed as other, 1% are Asian and 0.1% are American Indian.

The Texas Department of State Health Services reported an additional 10,593 lab-confirmed cases Friday. There have now been 2,782,130 Texans diagnosed with COVID-19 and 52,931 fatalities as of Friday. There are currently 11,261 Texans hospitalized by the coronavirus, according to the DSHS. The statewide positivity rate as of Friday is 18.87%.

At Texas State University there have been 67 coronavirus cases recorded since Aug. 1 — 40 among students and 27 among faculty and staff — at the time of publication. There are currently 67 active cases, according to the university’s dashboard.

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.

COVID-19 vaccine signup 

To make an appointment for a vaccine shot, visit https://www.haysinformed.com. From there you can use the new online scheduler to find a time and location that works best for you. According to the DSHS, 109,470 Hays County residents have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Friday, approximately 55.85% of 195,999 eligible residents who are 12 years or older. Additionally, 131,856 county residents have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose — 67.78% of the eligible population.

“No appointment needed” vaccine clinics are available Monday-Friday at Live Oak Community Clinic, 401 Broadway, in San Marcos between 8:30-11:30 a.m. and 1:30-4:30 p.m. Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are available at this clinic. 

A walk-in Pfizer vaccine clinic takes place at Communicare in Kyle at 2810 Dacy Lane every Monday-Friday between 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1-3 p.m.

A walk-in Pfizer clinic takes place on Tuesday, Aug. 17 at ACC Hays Campus — 1200 Kohlers Crossing, Building 1000 in Kyle — from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., and again on Aug. 21 from 9 a.m. through 11 a.m.