As of July 1 reporting, two Medina County residents had passed away from COVID-19. Over the last six weeks, 16 more people in our community lost their lives battling this horrible virus. A total of 18 families have now lost a loved one to COVID-19 as of August 4, 2020.
It is with heavy hearts and many prayers that we report the loss of so many community members. With such strict privacy laws in place, we have no other choice most of the time but to report the numbers, but we always welcome family members the opportunity to share their stories in a special tribute to the loved ones we’ve lost in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Active cases
As of this Tuesday morning, August 4, there were 57 reported active cases in Medina County. Hondo has 22 active cases, and Devine has 14, followed by Castroville with 12, LaCoste 3, and a few more scattered across the county including 2 active cases in Lytle (according to their city website which includes areas outside Medina County).
Case numbers
Medina County has reported a total of 488 COVID cases in our local communities as of this Tuesday, August 4th (not including prison outbreaks—see more info below).
Hospitalizations
A total of 46 local residents of Medina County have reportedly been hospitalized as a result of COVID-19.
Mortality rate and Hospitalization rate
In the community figures that have been reported, the mortality rate of COVID-19 in our County is a little over 3.6%, and the hospitalization rate is a little over 9.43% (the hospitalization number is likely low due to the delay in the communication about residents who are hospitalized).
County totals reported by State including prison outbreak figures
The above numbers do not include the prison outbreak in Hondo, which are not figured into the daily chart reporting community cases. This is why, on the Department of State Health Services website, Medina County is listed as having had 595 total COVID cases and 24 deaths (including figures from community and inmates at the prison) as of August 4, 2020. That sadly equates to a mortality rate of 4.03% overall.
Weekly COVID update with local leaders
County officials including Health Unit Director Patricia Mechler, County Judge Chris Schuchart, and Emergency Manager Keith Lutz met with press for the weekly COVID update.
One of the first things officials discussed is regarding the delay in information that occurs during a crisis situation like this.
“I hope that y’all can understand that I just can’t report things until I have the information in front of me and know it’s accurate. It may not be exactly when you want; it may be a week late or it may be even longer, but it’s just important that I have it correct,” Mechler said.
“I’m just going to talk a minute on Community Care. I think part of the reason why I got so much information on Friday kind of all at one time (regarding Community Care residents) is they’ve been having a really hard time….they’ve had a lot of their staff affected. They’ve had to make a lot of physical changes to the buildings to make COVID units and partition things off and they’re just really….it’s a very difficult time for nursing homes right now. We’ve been kind of holding our breath, knowing how many cases they had. But now we’re seeing the effects and nursing homes are particularly…it’s just very difficult for all of them,” said Mechler.
“So, I do want to say how much I appreciate how hard our nursing homes are working. I don’t think anybody knows really, how hard it is to be a staff member in a nursing home right now. I also want to say that Medina Valley Health and Rehab also has some cases, and they test regularly on their own. They test regularly and they’ve come up with another 11 positive cases. I think five of those are staff…..Again, we don’t know who will become symptomatic or stay asymptomatic, but we’ll have to watch that. Nursing homes are doing everything they can, and putting the things in place that need to be, but there’s community exposures out there and it’s something that is very difficult to control. They’re working very hard at it, and it’s a very difficult position to be in, the staff at nursing homes and administration that have been dealing with all this. I appreciate our healthcare workers and the people that do go out every day and put themselves in positions of exposure that they have families too,” Mechler added.
“Please wear your mask, businesses wear masks, and everybody….It really does cut down on our exposure and our risk of spreading it,” Mechler said.
Q: Did Community Care get all residents tested (as discussed in previous weeks)?
A: “I think we talked to y’all last week about how we were going to try to get another round of testing for Community Care, and we submitted for that. Somebody has contacted them and it is probably going to happen sometime this week,” Emergency Manager Lutz said.
Discussing Schools
Leaders reminded everyone that decisions on opening schools, etc, falls to the districts themselves.
“As far as opening and closing schools, which it’s not under the purview of the county or the health department.”
Q: From what I understand, if there is an outbreak the health unit can shut it down. They just can’t shut it preemptively, right?
A: “I think we agree with that….I mean, if it turns into a situation, and they can’t handle it like other things, then yes, I think you’re right……At that point , the Health Authority could step in. But up to that point, it’s not up to us to decide.”
“The schools have been really feverishly working on plans, and very hard. We’ve seen most of their plans… It’s not like they’re not putting 100% effort into it. They’re putting 120% effort into this.”
Q: On the school re-opening, my opinion is based upon listening to our press conferences and the school board and talking to some of them as well. I know they rely heavily on advice from you guys as leaders in the county because you’re seeing more than just one town’s view or one school’s view…. So I just hope you realize how much respect they have for your opinion when it comes down to it.”
A: “I mean, we’ve been working on plans and I’ve seen their plans, and like we said, they put an awful lot of work in it. When I see something I can make a recommendation on, I do. And I mean, we’re going to do the best we can with the situation we’re going to end up with, we’re going to have to open schools ….I’m curious to know, as kids are registering, how many we’re going to have actually showing up for in-class learning. I don’t have those numbers.”
“I think they’re gathering them still right now. But also an interesting story is going to be how many openings do they have for teachers and aides and substitutes?”
County leaders and press also discussed the option of districts allowing students to do distance learning from home, and its effect on extra-curricular activities.
“Our school board is also going to talk either Tuesday or Wednesday about participating in extra-curricular activities, whether you go to school or not and UIL regulations.”
“They have the choice but will they do it?”
“Yeah exactly. They have the choice; each school board can decide what’s best for their district. They have said you can allow students to stay home and still come play and be a part of it.”
“I’d seen one of the districts where they got information on that.”
“They’ve given them the choice, but it’ll be interesting to see what each one does.”
“It’s interesting. Some say I’m going to keep my kids home because I don’t want them to be exposed but then I’m going to let them do sports with everybody and be exposed….”
“Yeah, each individual sport or activity is probably just a little bit different, you know? Say participating in band versus a contact sport. There are a lot of scenarios.”
Businesses and masks
“We just can’t say enough about wearing masks….Trisha is dealing with this all day long where, you know, people are calling or a business is calling in, they have a case and they’re trying to figure out what to do. The first question we ask when we have a business owner call and ask about what they should do is, ‘Have you and your staff been wearing a mask?’ because it changes everything.”
“It’s the difference between staying open and having to close. Versus if masks weren’t worn and people have had high exposures with somebody and, you know, well, probably everybody needs to quarantine for 14 days and close your place of business. So it’s just….it’s a big deal right now, as far as where we’re at.”
“I think you probably know of a few of these cases where, you know, there’s been a big family gathering and they ended up with multiple illnesses and multiple deaths in the same family. So, I mean we’ve got to remember big gatherings of family are just as dangerous as a big gathering anywhere else. The fact that some is a family member doesn’t mean the virus isn’t going to attack. It’s the big groups…..if you are in contact with more than 10 people; your chances go up tremendously when you’re in a large group.”
Q: Yeah, so how many businesses are you getting a week calling asking these kinds of questions. Is it just small businesses, big businesses or kind of a variety?
“You know, it’s been all over the board…some private business, some public business, you name it. You know, but the number one question is: ‘Are your people wearing masks? Are they sanitizing in the work environment? You know, you take an office that has a dozen people in it. And, you know, we’re not in the time where we can have the coffee pot conversations every morning, certainly not without a mask. In our work environment, we should be trying to social distance and stay in our own spaces and clean our own spaces.”
By Kayleen Holder
Editor