The risk level of COVID-19 in San Antonio has been tagged as severe, prompting the city to release an Emergency Alert on Wednesday. The alert is the city’s way to hopefully alleviate the significant stress that hospitals in the area are facing.
The Public Safety Alert was rolled out Wednesday, and citizens in the San Antonio area received a text message about it. The alert read, “Risk of COVID-19 is now at a severe level. Nine out of ten patients in the hospital are unvaccinated. Mask up, get vaccinated, and get tested, http://covid19.sanantonio.gov/vaccineinfo.”
The link on the alert directs San Antonians to the clinics and centers where they can schedule an appointment for vaccination. The alert also said that more than 88 percent of the new cases are due to the Delta variant of COVID-19.
The alert was released as local government officials have no power over putting mask mandates in place because of Governor Greg Abbott’s ban. As per the ban, it is mandatory for Texans to get vaccinated. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said that their hospitals continue to edge towards capacity, and it’s “on all of us to do what we can, roll up our sleeves and get vaccinated.”
Wolff added that they did what they can with the authority left of them, so it is now up to the citizens to do the right thing and get vaccinated.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg attended a news conference before the alerts were sent out. He said during the conference that they recorded 12 new deaths, and 62 more are under investigation. He also presented a graph at the conference to show the people who have doubts about the vaccine’s effectiveness.
Wolff also spoke at the news conference saying that children should be the main reason those eligible to get a vaccine should get one. He shared that an 11-month-old baby is in the hospital now because of COVID.
Dr. Charles Hankins, a local pediatrician, also said that a four-year-old is in the ICU on a ventilator. Additionally, there are four more children on ventilators at the hospitals in San Antonio.
Hankins said, “If parents and those 12 and up can get vaccinated – we can protect those who aren’t old enough to get vaccinated.”
