COVID-19 continues to take its toll on Kerr County

Kerr County added 50 new active COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, January 5, according to Peterson Regional Medical Center. The hospital also continues to experience a high number of hospitalizations of novel coronavirus patients (29), further straining its healthcare personnel and their efforts.

Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas explained that, while our running total of recovered patients has increased by 277 people – from 2,168 to 2,445 – in the one week’s time since the county’s last update on Dec. 29, which is good, the county has also seen a net increase of 23 patients in the total number of active cases, from 335 to 358.

On Monday, January 4, there were 21 new cases confirmed by Peterson Regional Medical Center. Thomas said, “People can put any kind of political spin on this they want, but what it boils down to is our hospital’s capacity and its ability to take care of our community. Right now, 33% of our hospital capacity is comprised of COVID-19 patients. I think that’s a big problem.”

Kerr County is also adding an additional four fatalities of residents attributed to the virus which brings the county’s pandemic total to date to 37 deaths. Two of the deaths occurred at PRMC, while the other two reported fatalities were reported through the Texas Department of State Health Services (which usually indicates the individuals died somewhere outside the county.)

Kerr County leaders announced Tuesday that there will be another weekly COVID-19 Community Update at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 7. Kerrville Fire Department Chief Eric Maloney will be presenting the newest information regarding vaccine efforts, and the update will be conducted live. Citizens can watch the meeting on the city’s broadcast channel (Spectrum Channel 2) or on the city’s livestream online at: https://kerrvilletx.gov/1328/Kerrville-City-Channel.