The rolling seven-day average for the testing positivity rate increased to 35% with 734 tests and 257 cases of the coronavirus reported by the county's Office of Public Health between July 8-14. The seven-day average was 24.4% on July 9, the second most recent date data was available for.
The overall positivity testing rate was 15.4%, up from 15.1% on July 11, and 8,739 tests had been reported to the Office of Public Health.
Deaths in the county associated with the virus increased from eight to 29 in the first two weeks of July.
Forty-nine Comal County residents were hospitalized as of July 14.
A string of deaths at nursing homes in Comal County continued over the weekend, and the Office of Public Health reported seven additional deaths July 13.
According to a Comal County official, a quick response force was requested from the state by the county due to a request from Colonial Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in New Braunfels. The response force could arrive as soon as this week. The Texas Department of State Health Services had not updated Guadalupe County's case count since July 12 and stands at 1,044.
The Guadalupe County Office of Emergency Management was still reporting three deaths as of July 14. Patrick Pinder, emergency management coordinator, told the Guadalupe County Commissioners Court on July 14 that 16 COVID-19 patients at Guadalupe Regional Medical Hospital had died.
According to a press release issued by Guadalupe County, not all of GRMC's coronavirus patients were county residents, and DSHS must verify the patients' county of residence before they will report it.
"These patients ... are not transfers from San Antonio, New Braunfels and San Marcos," Pinder said. "Speaking with the hospital staff, these are all patients who have either driven themselves to the hospital or come via ambulance."
According to a press release issued by GRMC, 38 coronavirus patients were hospitalized as of July 14 and the hospital averaged 38-45 COVID-19 patients on a daily basis for the past week.
The South Texas Regional Advisory Council, a component of the Texas Trauma and Emergency Healthcare system, provided GRMC with 17 travel nurses and five respiratory therapists.
Pinder said that six to seven patients were admitted and discharged on a daily basis on average.
Testing information was not available for Guadalupe County.
Data on cases, deaths and hospitalizations from DSHS for Guadalupe County was delayed by roughly two weeks, Pinder said July 14.
"As soon as that information gets to us, you're going to see these numbers drastically increase," Pinder told the court. "I reported that we had at least 16 deaths in the county. There's probably a few more additional deaths in the county, so these numbers will probably change in about two weeks or in another week."
