Since March 16, Comal County has reported a total of 3,825 cases, 3,577 recorded recoveries and 120 deaths. The county has not reported a new death since Oct. 9. As of Nov. 3, the county has 128 active, confirmed cases.
On Nov. 3, following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Texas Department of State Health Services, Comal County added “suspect” cases as a new category to COVID-19 case definitions.
According to the DSHS, a suspect case meets supportive laboratory history with no prior history of being a confirmed or probable case.
Supportive laboratory evidence, as defined by DSHS, includes the detection of specific antibody in serum, plasma, blood or detection of a specific antigen by immunocytochemistry in an autopsy specimen.
The county’s dashboard will now reflect suspect cases confirmed in the county.
On Nov. 2, the county’s seven-day positivity rate was 7.24%, down from 9.52% as of Friday, Oct. 30. Before Friday, the county had not reported a positivity rate above 9% since Oct. 6 when it was recorded to be 9.32%. According to data from the Texas DSHS, Guadalupe County reported a total of 70 new confirmed and probable cases between Oct. 26-Nov. 2, for a total of 3,905 cases since March 16.
A total of 81 Guadalupe County deaths have been reported to the Texas DSHS, though only 44 have been reported by the DSHS to the Guadalupe County Office of Emergency Management. According to a press release, the difference is due to a lag in reporting from the state system to the county system.
Comal ISD and New Braunfels ISD have been reporting symptomatic cases as well as incidents of exposure to a case since the beginning of the school year.
Exposure to a positive case includes being directly exposed to fluids from the mouth or nose or being within six feet for 15 minutes or more without a face covering.
On Nov. 2, NBISD reported one current case, 62 symptomatic cases and 80 exposures to a lab-confirmed case, down from 124 on Oct. 26. A total of 55 confirmed cases have been reported in NBISD: 42 students and 13 staff members.
CISD reported 14 current cases, 63 symptomatic cases and 123 exposures to a lab-confirmed case as of Nov. 2, down from 145 exposures as of Oct. 26.
Residents wishing to be tested for COVID-19 may call the Comal County’s dedicated hotline at 830-221-1120 between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
