The death in Comal County on July 1 was a hospitalized New Braunfels man in his 70s with an underlying medical condition, according to a press release issued by the county. The county resident that died July 3 was a Canyon Lake man who had also been hospitalized due to COVID-19 and had underlying medical conditions. He was in his 80s, according to the county.
Details of the most recent death in Guadalupe County were not released.
As of July 3, Comal County's Office of Public Health reported 907 coronavirus cases and the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) reported 768 cases of the virus in Guadalupe County. Comal County had 36 hospitalized residents at that time.
Guadalupe County did not have an accurate count of hospitalizations for its residents July 2, but Guadalupe Regional Medical Center (GRMC) had 31 COVID-19 patients July 1. The hospital does not track the residency of coronavirus patients for reporting purposes.
The hospital announced last week it was considering the use of its Outpatient Surgical Center as a last resort in the event of a patient surge and the South Texas Regional Advisory Council allocated seven travel nurses to GRMC June 30.
There were 660 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 on the Comal County side of New Braunfels and the city's immediate area. Data released by Guadalupe County, which does not account for 410 (53.4%) of the county's cases, reports 50 residents in New Braunfels on its side of the county line have contracted the virus.
Between June 29 and July 3, Comal County's case total increased by 309, or 51.7%.
Guadalupe County's case total increase by 130, or 20.4%, during the same time period. 7,161 tests for the coronavirus had been performed on residents of Comal County, as of July 3, and the positivity rate for the previous seven days was 30.6%, down from 49.5% a day earlier. Cumulative testing by the county produced a positivity rate of 12.7%, up from 9.2% a week earlier.
According to Comal County's Office of Public Health, the breakdown of 401 of the 544 active cases reported July 2 was as follows: 167 (30.7%) are in their 20s, 82 (15.1%) are in their 40s, 79 (14.5%) are in their 30s, and 73 (13.4%) are in their 50s.
Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order July 2 that requires people within any Texas county with more than 20 cases to wear a mask or face covering in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The virus has spread at an increasingly rapid rate among Texans since early June.
According to DSHS, there were 183,532 cases of COVID-19 in Texas July 3 and 2,575 Texans were dead because of the virus.
Residents wishing to be tested for COVID-19 can call Comal County’s dedicated hotline at 830-221-1120 between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Several local health care providers and clinics are also offering testing for the coronavirus.
