Credit: Courtesy Photo / City of San Antonio

On Saturday, Metro Health officials reported 492 new COVID-19 infections in Bexar County, raising the cumulative case count to 72,805.

Two people being treated for COVID-19 died Saturday, bringing the county’s total death toll to 1,318. The number of hospitalizations also increased to 466. Of those patients, 148 were in intensive care and 66 were on ventilators.

While Bexar has among the highest case counts in the state, it still lags four other counties — Harris, Dallas, Tarrant and El Paso, respectively — according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas has tallied 1.16 million coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a New York Times analysis. To date, 21,004 people have died in the state, according to the Times‘ figures.

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Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current. He holds degrees from Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative...