Medina County reported its 5th and 6th case this Monday April 6, and it’s fourth case was reported last week online on Saturday, April 4. The two latest cases are residents of the 78059 Natalia area and 78861 Hondo area.
Out of the first 6 local COVID patients who reside in Medina County, two required hospitalization so far. So far, as of this past Monday, 1 recovered, 1 remains hospitalized, 2 are self-isolating at home, and the newest two cases reported Monday were also isolating at home.
After much discussion, county leaders released the following breakdown of where cases have arisen across the county since the first case arose on March 17 to the most recent cases reported this week April 6th:
78861 Hondo area-3 cases confirmed
78016 Devine area-1 case confirmed
78059 Natalia area-1 case confirmed
78009 Castroville area-1 case confirmed
“Our fourth case is a man in his 20’s. We believe he was exposed outside of the county, and that he did not cause any community spread locally,” stated Patricia Mechler, Medina County Health Unit in tele-conference Monday, shortly before two new cases were released.
A press release Monday afternoon, April 6th, stated that “The 5th case is still being investigated and is from the 78059 zip code. This person is believed not to have caused any community exposures and is associated with travel within the state of Texas but outside Medina County. The 6th case is from the 78861 zip code and this person is believed to have acquired the virus through community spread but is not believed to have caused any community exposures. Both of these individuals are isolating at home.”
No other details about the two latest cases were being released.
Officials had held a tele-conference earlier Monday, and discussed many things including the following information.
“Testing that we’ve done so far in local clinics and our local hospital is 37, and we are investigating more cases. We are getting results in daily, and have received 14 negatives so far. But that number only includes residents who were tested here inside Medina County. It doesn’t include local residents who went to San Antonio to get tested,” Mechler adds.
They also stated that the three Brown Dodge employees were tested have come back negative for COVID.
“Now you can get a test without a doctor’s order. You can go straight to the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, and they also have a symptom checker on the San Antonio Metro Health website,” Mechler noted. “As testing increases, we are going to see more and more positive cases.”
“There is absolutely no doubt that the number of cases is going to increase as the ability to test increases, ” added Medina County Judge Chris Schuchart. “We are not on the tail end of this yet. Carefully consider everywhere you go–make sure you are only leaving your home for essential things. Even though we haven’t issued a stay at home order ourselves, the governor has issued an order that orders people to stay home unless you have what’s considered an ‘essential need’ or if you are in one of the categories that is exempted. We will be adopting the another order at Commissioner’s Court on Thursday, but the governor’s order is already in effect here and everywhere else in Texas.”
“My guess is if we don’t get better at doing this–if we can’t control it and don’t start policing ourselves–the next order is going to be a lot more restrictive,” Judge Schuchart adds. “Another thing people need to understand is that when CDC puts out orders during a Public Health Emergency–Texas automatically adopts it by law.”
Mechler added, “We have a couple weeks to get through that are really pressing.”
See the entire article about the tele-conference in this week’s edition of The Devine News, and check our website for updates.