59 San Antonio nursing home residents test positive for coronavirus

A test tube with 2019-nCoV on the label on January 29, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

Most residents at a San Antonio nursing home have now tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Mayor Ron Nirenberg announced Thursday evening.

During a news conference, Nirenberg said 59 more residents of the Southeast Nursing and Rehabilitation Center have tested positive after six residents' cases were reported there Wednesday. The previous six residents who tested positive included one person who died Tuesday.

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Officials did not immediately have the total number of residents at the center, but Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff estimated it to be "70-something."

Nirenberg said he learned of the 59 new residents' positive tests late Thursday.

"This is a developing story on a major outbreak that is contained at Southeast Rehabilitation Center," Nirenberg said. "We'll have more updates as information becomes available tomorrow morning."

Wolff added that the 59 residents with positive tests is an "incredibly high number, and it's just ... very, very disturbing."

In addition to the six resident cases that were reported at the facility Wednesday, there were six workers who tested positive. "No additional workers have been tested positive at this point," Nirenberg said Thursday.

There have also been 11 negative tests at the facility and two that were inconclusive, Nirenberg said. It was not immediately clear if those tests were conducted on residents, workers or both.