San Antonio-area COVID cases up 270% since early July, Metro Health reports

Cases of COVID-19 are rising again in Bexar County with reported cases jumping 270% since July 3, according to Metro Health data released Tuesday.

From Aug. 1-7, Metro Health reported 1,227 new cases in Bexar County — the highest number of new cases since February. Cases have risen by 200 to 300 weekly since June, online numbers show.

The rise follows a national trend. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 9,056 new hospital admissions in the U.S. for the week ending July 29, a 12.5% increase from the week prior, according to federal data.

Even so, experts said there’s no need to panic. Cases remain far lower than prior summers since the pandemic’s onset. The uptick is most likely a result of record-breaking summer travel and oppressive heat keeping people indoors where the virus spreads more easily.

“The situation at the moment is nothing even close to where we have been,” Bill Hanage, a co-director at the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told USA Today.

The new “Eris” variant has emerged as the dominant U.S. COVID strain, making up 17% of all cases reported so far this month, according to CDC data. However, a CDC officials told Politico there’s no evidence to suggest Eris is able to spread more easily. What’s more, currently available treatments and vaccines remain effective against it.

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This article appears in Aug 9-22, 2023.