Note: The Hays County epidemiology team was unable to run a full report Dec. 17 due to a technical issue. An updated report was released the morning of Dec. 18. Hays County epidemiology team issued a report with additional corrections the afternoon of Dec. 18. Below is the full, corrected Dec. 17 update.  

The Hays County Local Health Department reports three new COVID-19-related fatalities Dec. 17, a Kyle man in his 60s, a San Marcos man in his 60s and a Wimberly man in his 70s. There have been a total of 116 fatalities in the county.

The county also reported 151 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 94 recoveries, bringing the total number of cases in the county to 8,720, total active cases to 1,257 and recoveries to 7,347. The county reports the total active cases in the past 21 days is 1,686.

San Marcos, Kyle and Buda have 310, 425 and 242 active cases, respectively.

According to Epidemiologist Eric Schneider, the total number of received negative tests in the county is now 63,378. The total number of hospitalizations is 472 and total current hospitalizations is 15 after seven people were hospitalized and eight were discharged.

The University Star will continue to provide COVID-19 updates as any additional information is released.

Individuals concerned about possible exposure to COVID-19 are encouraged to contact their healthcare provider or the Hays County Local Health Department at 512.393.5520. For additional information about COVID-19, visit the Texas Department of State Health Services or the Centers for Disease Control website.

The University Star’s COVID-19 coverage can be found here.