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Three Hays County residents have died from complications caused by COVID-19, the Hays County Local Health Department announced Wednesday.
The county stated that the residents who died were a woman in her 60s from Kyle, a Buda woman in her 70s and a Buda man in his 70s. Only the Kyle resident was hospitalized at the time, the local health department reported. There have now been 34 coronavirus-related fatalities in Hays County since the first diagnosis of the virus within its boundaries on March 14.
County Epidemiologist Eric Schneider also tallied 66 additional recoveries, 38 new lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases, 11 hospital discharges and six new hospitalizations.
There are currently 2,848 active COVID-19 cases — 30 less than Tuesday — and there have been 4,969 total cases.
With the fluctuation in hospitalizations, there are currently 16 county residents hospitalized by the coronavirus. According to Schneider, 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.
With the 66 additional recoveries, there have now been 2,088 county residents who have recovered from the disease.
The local health department has received 21,898 negative tests and is awaiting results from 52 tests.
“Seeing the case counts declining is good, but we need to remain vigilant,” Schneider said. “We encourage all Hays County residents to continue doing the things they’ve been doing: wearing masks, hand washing and distancing.”
San Marcos has tallied the most coronavirus cases in the county but continues to see a decrease in active cases with 18 less cases than Tuesday. The city currently has 1,374 active cases and has had 2,467 total cases.
Kyle now has 925 active cases and has had 1,537 total. Buda has recorded 659 total cases and currently has 374 active cases. Wimberley has tallied 81 total cases, including 31 active cases. Dripping Springs has amassed 79 total cases and has 65 active cases. Austin, within Hays County, currently has 27 active cases and has had 43 total cases. Driftwood has recorded 32 total cases and has 30 active cases. Niederwald has had 29 total cases. Uhland has had 15 total cases and has 10 active cases.
Maxwell has had nine total cases, including three active cases. Manchaca has had eight total cases and two active cases. Mountain City has had eight total cases and has two 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 1,987. Eight-hundred-forty county residents diagnosed with the disease are between 30-39 years old. Six-hundred-six people diagnosed with the coronavirus are 40-49 years old. Four-hundred-fifty-eight residents fall in the 50-59-year-old age range. Four-hundred-eleven county residents diagnosed with COVID-19 are between 10-19 years old, 275 are 60-69 years old, 169 are 9 years old or younger, 151 are 70-79 years old and 72 are 80 and older.
According to the local health department, 2,603 females and 2,366 males in Hays County have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
The county’s ethnic breakdown states that 44.1% of county residents diagnosed with the disease don’t have a specified ethnicity, while 38.2% are Hispanic and 17.8% are non-Hispanic.
By race, 60.3% of county residents who’ve had COVID-19 are white, 37.3% are unknown or not specified, 2% are Black and 0.5% are Asian.
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.
