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Seventeen of 54 active COVID-19 patients hospitalized




The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the 2019 population of Uvalde County was 26,741 people, and of those, 4,047, which is 15.13 percent of the population, have tested negative for the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19.

As of Wednesday there have been 615 confirmed cases in what equates to about 2.3 percent of county residents at that population level, and 16 deaths in the county attributed by medical personnel to complications related to COVID-19, which is about 0.06 percent.

The 16th death in Uvalde was reported on Tuesday morning on the Uvalde Health Authority website, www.uvaldehealthauthority.org, by local health official Dr. Jared Reading.

The woman was a 75-year-old nursing home patient who, though she had not exhibited symptoms of the coronavirus, tested positive at Uvalde Memorial Hospital in late July after she was brought in for treatment of a different ailment. Reading said she was released that same day and went into quarantine. The woman had multiple other medical problems and had been diagnosed with dementia.

The 615 positive cases of COVID-19 reported in Uvalde County as of Wednesday was up 5.31 percent from last week, when 584 positive cases were reported on Thursday.

Active cases were down by five, with 54 cases in comparison to the 59 reported on Aug. 13; of those, one patient resides in Knippa, two reside in Sabinal and 51 live in the Uvalde area.

Probable cases remained at 22, and there has been no change in this number for several weeks now.

The probable category is used for people thought to have COVID-19 but who have declined testing; in some cases this may occur because the affected person is living in a household with a confirmed positive case when they become ill.

There are 567 recovered patients who have ended quarantine, and 17 patients are currently hospitalized.

  • Confirmed cases: 615
  • Probable cases: 22
  • Active cases: 54
  • Recovered cases: 567
  • Hospitalized: 17
  • Deaths: 16
  • Negative tests: 4,047

County deaths

Many of the 16 patients who have died have been nursing home patients; most have been elderly, ranging in age from 66 to 99 years old, and diagnosed with other underlying medical conditions, but all died after being diagnosed with the coronavirus.

The 15th death was reported Aug. 13, of a 75-year-old Uvalde woman with heart disease, hypertension and diabetes; she was not a nursing home resident. The 14th death was reported Aug. 9, that of a 66-year-old Uvalde woman who had been hospitalized since mid-July.

The 13th death was reported Aug. 6; the patient was a 99-year-old woman receiving hospice care while in a nursing home.

The deaths of two female nursing home patients, ages 75 and 86, were reported on Aug. 5; and the death of a 68-year-old Uvalde woman who was not a nursing home patient was reported on Aug. 2.

On July 27, a 90-year-old male nursing home resident died: over the weekend of July 25-26, three patients, including two men, ages 80 and 93, and one woman, age 88, died; on July 19, an 87-year-old nursing home patient died; on July 16, an 82-year-old nursing home patient died; on July 13, an 80-year-old nursing home resident died; and on July 9, a nursing home patient in their 90s died.

The first reported death in the county was on June 24, of a 79-year-old man who was not a nursing home patient.