WACO, Texas —
In a Wednesday online press conference for McLennan County, Waco Mayor Kyle Deaver said the county currently has only four active cases of COVID-19 and hospitals have never been close to capacity while they have cared for patients.
Deaver said the county has averaged over 130 tests a day with less than one percent that come back positive in a week. This is not a bad place for the county to be in.
“We’ve (previously) gone over nine percent with our positivity rate. It’s now down to half a percent, which is unbelievable,” Deaver said.
But does that mean the city or county could relax any policies? The answer was no. Instead, Deaver urged the public to stay vigilant.
“We can’t be lulled into a false sense of security at this point. It would a false sense. The virus is still present, and it is not going to go away anytime soon. It’s not going to go away until we have vaccines,” Deaver said.
While the COVID-19 picture for McLennan County looks better, officials know it is also not complete. In many cases, the people who are tested are the ones who already show symptoms. But, it’s possible for people to be infected with the virus without showing symptoms at all.
There are new antibody tests coming out that can help fill out that picture. They test people to see if they have already come in contact with the disease, but McLennan County Health District Vice Chair Dr. Jackson Griggs told 6 News the most effective antibody tests are not yet available for them to use.
“There are antibody tests that are sufficient for evaluating whether someone has had exposure, but those are not used yet in the market for patients on a regular basis. But we expect those to be coming fairly soon. Those tests will be likely able to show if a patient has been exposed,” Griggs said.
Deaver urged the public to continue to practice social distancing and to wear masks when they go out. Deaver said they can not force the public to wear masks however, according to current state rules.
“The Governor has said that he would not allow us to enforce that even if we were to order it. I would love to see businesses require their customers to wear masks,” Deaver said. “We so strongly encourage people to wear them.”
While discussing local policies for businesses and venues, Deaver and County Judge Scott M. Felton routinely stated they would follow the Governor’s leadership.
“That all depends on the Governor,” Deaver said. “He has made it clear that neither cities or counties cannot make things more or less restrictive. We will be opening facilities in accordance with his guidance.”
Both Deaver and Riggs told the public they do not believe the fight against COVID-19 will be over anytime soon, despite the positive picture the county has seen.
“It feels like we have won this first round, but there are many more rounds to fight,” Griggs said.
Also on KCENTV.com: