Ninety-nine New cases were added to this week’s Medina County charts, totaling 357 cases documented in Medina County of COVID-19.
Newly added cases today, July 17th were in the following communities: 25 Devine citizens, 27 Natalia, 13 Hondo, 26 Castroville, , 2 Lytle, 2 Lacoste, and 4 D’Hanis. Devine cases now stand at 95 total people affected, Hondo 99, Castroville 67, Natalia 56, Lytle 7, and Lacoste 6.
16 days ago, the total case count was at 132 on July 1. So 225 more cases have been reported in just a little over 2 weeks.
“There has been a backlog of cases mounting for weeks and weeks being added daily. In most cases, people who are sick today will truly be added days or weeks later. Use common sense when looking at the rising numbers. Wear a mask and protect your community,” stated Devine News publisher KK Calame.
The number of new cases that have been added this week shows there have been many more active cases than could be reported, especially during a surge, when traditional swabs have taken up to two weeks to come back with results.
A nurse who is volunteering at a San Antonio hospital noted just a couple days ago that “Our COVID ICU is full, at least at the hospital where I am…We had to divert ambulances 3 times last night. For those of you who don’t know what that means, it means we could not accept the patients at the ER due to being full at that time.If you or a loved one gets sick and needs hospitalization, know that it is getting more and more difficult to find an open bed. Please wear your mask.”
“I have seen people declining fast. I see people coming through on EMS already on a vent, and they look so young. People in ICU on a vent are going to be there for at least two weeks if they live, so those are beds that are gone in the ICU for an extended period of time, so you’ve got to realize that. Be careful out there. Be respectful of other people.”
As far as ever knowing what our active cases truly are at the moment….One local clinic, Little Alsace, received the first and only rapid testing machine in Medina County last weekend, so that should help cases to be reported faster, but they can only test so many in one clinic. When we spoke to them Tuesday, they had already tested about 200 people at the Castroville clinic within the first few days of the machine arriving.
Medina Regional Hospital will also be receiving a rapid testing machine, but we don’t have any word yet on when it will arrive.
The county noted, “Please note the cases increased +91 [actually 99 as far as we can tell] due to backlogged information from the State plus more rapid testing. As you can see many more are in the recovery line due to some cases being older.
Medina County also sadly reported our 4th death of a local resident. A man in his 20’s tragically lost his battle with COVID-19.
