Hays County Epidemiologist Discusses Recent Surge In Local COVID-19 Cases

By Terra Rivers | Managing Editor

On Wednesday, Hays County Epidemiologist Eric Schneider held a virtual press conference to talk about the recent surge in local COVID-19 cases.

According to Schneider, 58% of COVID-19 cases in the county since the June 10 report are San Marcos residents in the 20-29 age range.

Schneider said the three most common activities cited by positive patients have been recently participating in protests, visiting crowded bars, and floating the river.  

“We expected an uptick as businesses, bars, restaurants and local hangouts reopened,” Schneider said. “But that number is growing faster than expected.”

According to Schneider, Memorial Day weekend saw large mass gatherings of young people.

“At this point, most of our residents should assume that they take the risk of coming into contact with someone who has COVID-19 as soon as they leave their home,” Schneider said.

Governor Greg Abbott’s orders to reopen Texas will not allow the county or the city to implement any restrictive measures to contain the spread such as another lockdown.

However, local governments are still allowed to advise their communities to stay home whenever possible.

As of Wednesday, June 17, San Marcos had 687 confirmed COVID-19 cases with only 93 recoveries and 2 deaths leaving 592 active cases.

The City of San Marcos postponed their July 4 fireworks show due to COVID-19 and safety concerns. And the City of Lockhart has canceled its 4^th of July Celebration all together.

According to Schneider the industries seeing the most cases are construction, healthcare, and food-service.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends businesses close down overnight when an employee test positive in order to perform a deep clean and sanitize.

Businesses are advised to disallow employees, who have tested positive for COVID, to return to work until they are cleared by health officials. 

Crafthouse closed its doors for three days after an employee tested positive to give staff time to get tested for COVID-19 and have the location professionally cleaned.

The Vault and Sake Bistro and Bar closed their doors after an employee tested positive for COVID and instructed employees not to return until they’d been tested and cleared for COVID.

Kobe closed their restaurant at Springtown Way for a couple of days and announced they’d be switching back to ‘To Go’ orders only when they reopened due to an employee testing positive for the virus.   

On June 14, the Texas Department of Emergency Management administered over 700 tests to San Marcos residents.

Schneider said TDEM is using a state laboratory to run the tests, and he has no control over when the lab results will arrive.

TDEM estimated the turnaround time to be anywhere from 10 to 20 days after the tests are administered; however, some individuals may have already begun to receive their results.