An additional 160 hospitalizations caused by COVID-19 were discovered through an audit conducted by the Hays County Local Health Department.
The 160 hospitalizations had previously gone unreported in the county’s daily updates. According to the local health department, reports of hospitalizations that were not previously provided were reported. Following an internal audit which included detailed reviews of the information flow process with providers, the local health department confirmed 160 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 were hospitalized but were not provided to the health department. The county stated that the numbers will now be reflected in the total number of hospital cases reported.
The local health department stated, “Moving forward, the HCLHD will continue to collaborate with all reporting entities to ensure all COVID-19 cases, and other infectious diseases, are accurately reported to the health department in a timely manner.”
With the 160 new hospitalizations reported through the audit conducted and one additional hospitalization tallied Thursday, there have been 341 county residents hospitalized by the coronavirus, including 22 current hospitalizations. 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, the local health department said.
The county also tallied an additional 71 recoveries from COVID-19 and 14 new lab-confirmed cases Thursday.
There are currently 1,577 active coronavirus cases — 57 fewer than Wednesday — and there have been 5,832 total cases since the first diagnosis of the virus in Hays County on March 14.
With the 71 newly reported recoveries, 4,201 Hays County residents have now recovered from the disease.
The local health department has reported 54 COVID-19-related fatalities.
The county has received 26,377 negative tests and there have been 32,209 tests administered in Hays County.
San Marcos has tallied the most coronavirus cases in the county but is no longer the city with the most active cases. The city currently has 493 active cases — 40 less than Wednesday — and has had 2,950 total cases as of Thursday.
Kyle now has 696 active cases and has had 1,741 total. Buda has recorded 773 total cases and currently has 272 active cases. Wimberley has tallied 97 total cases, including 20 active cases. Dripping Springs has amassed 95 total cases and has 48 active cases. Austin, within Hays County, currently has 19 active cases and has had 59 total cases. Driftwood has recorded 37 total cases and has 12 active cases. Niederwald has had 30 total cases. Uhland has had 20 total cases and has nine active cases. Mountain City has had 10 total cases and has four active cases.
Manchaca has had nine total cases and has three active cases. Maxwell has had nine total cases. Bear Creek and Woodcreek each have had one total case.
The 20-29-age-range has recorded the most COVID-19 cases with 2,213 total cases tallied as of Thursday.
Nine-hundred-forty county residents diagnosed with the disease are between 30-39 years old. Six-hundred-eighty-four people diagnosed with the coronavirus are 40-49 years old. Six-hundred-forty-four residents fall in the 10-19-year-old age range. Five-hundred-thirty county residents diagnosed with COVID-19 are between 50-59 years old, 332 are 60-69 years old, 194 are 70-79 years old, 191 are 9 years old or younger and 104 are 80 and older.
According to the local health department, 3,053 females and 2,779 males in Hays County have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
The county’s ethnic breakdown states 43.52% of county residents diagnosed with the coronavirus are Hispanic, while 38.11% of county residents diagnosed with the disease don’t have a specified ethnicity and 18.37% are non-Hispanic.
By race, 60.3% of county residents who’ve had COVID-19 are white, 37.1% are unknown or not specified, 2.1% are Black and 0.5% are Asian.
The Texas Department of State Health Services reported Thursday that there have now been 723,919 Texans diagnosed with COVID-19, there have been 15,267 fatalities and there are 3,204 Texans currently hospitalized by the virus. An estimated 642,169 Texans have recovered from the coronavirus, according to the DSHS.
At Texas State University there have been 586 total coronavirus cases since March 1 — 547 among students and 39 among faculty and staff — as of press time Thursday.
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.
