SAN ANTONIO - At least 12 people at a San Antonio nursing home have been infected with the coronavirus, including one resident who died, and dozens more living at the facility are awaiting test results, authorities said Wednesday.
Six residents and six facility staff tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, at the Southeast Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, said Charles Hood, the San Antonio fire chief. He said emergency responders became concerned after receiving "five or six calls" from the facility within a 12-hour period.
"It was a trigger for us," Hood said.
Test results on more than 70 other residents at the facilities were pending Wednesday, health officials said. The facility is managed by Advanced Healthcare Solutions, which said in a statement that it had been "following recommended protective actions" and banned visitors from the facility for three weeks.
There are nearly 4,000 cases of coronavirus in Texas and at least 58 related deaths, according to state health officials.
Spring breakers
More than two dozen University of Texas students have tested positive for the coronavirus after taking a spring break trip to Mexico, public health officials said.
A group of about 70 people in their 20s flew to Cabo San Lucas about 10 days ago, the Austin Public Health Department said Tuesday. So far, 28 of them have tested positive for the coronavirus, and dozens more are being monitored, the department
said.
Four who tested positive didn't have any symptoms, officials said.
"The virus often hides in the healthy and is given to those who are at grave risk of being hospitalized or dying," Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott said. "While younger people have less risk for complications, they are not immune from severe illness and death from
COVID-19."
Most people who contract COVID-19 have mild or moderate symptoms, which can include fever and cough but also milder cases of pneumonia, sometimes requiring hospitalization. The risk of death is greater for older adults and people with other health
problems.
Teachers' demand
The Texas State Teachers Association on
Wednesday demanded schools be closed for the rest of the school year, saying Gov. Greg Abbott's order to shutter them until May 4 isn't long
enough.
At least seven states, including neighboring Oklahoma and New Mexico, have closed their school for the rest of the spring semester. Texas and the federal government have already waived this year's standardized testing
requirements.
"Disease experts expect this pandemic to get worse, maybe much worse, in Texas before we see any relief,"said TSTA President Noel Candelaria
said.