AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Public Health is moving its COVID-19 media briefings to a biweekly schedule, and health leaders will give their next update at 10:30 a.m. Friday.
Dr. Desmar Walkes, the Austin-Travis health authority, APH Chief Administrative Officer Cassandra DeLeon and Chief Epidemiologist Janet Pichette, are scheduled to give updates and answer questions from reporters.
According to the county's COVID-19 dashboard, active cases and the rolling average of new hospitalizations continue to dwindle. The 7-day average of new hospitalizations is down to 16, following 16 new hospitalizations and 151 new cases that were reported Wednesday. The data shows 78 people in intensive care units in the area and 52 people on ventilators, both a decrease from previous days.
APH currently has the area in Stage 3 of its COVID-19 risk guidelines, but with the decline in hospitalizations, it's inching toward the Stage 2 threshold, a 7-day average of 14 hospitalizations. Whether health leaders decide to officially move the area down a stage when the numbers say so is one thing, but the trend is heading in the right direction.
In a Travis County Commissioners Court meeting Tuesday, county officials shared details about how mobile vaccination units are performing. Around 2,200 COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed throughout areas of the community by the units, and Travis County Precinct 4 Constable George Morales said 654 of them were administered in the past week.
Nearly 64% of Travis County employees are vaccinated against COVID-19, taking advantage of the county's incentive program passed by commissioners in August. Once a full-time county employee provides proof of vaccination, they are eligible for an extra 16 hours of paid time off. The incentive is scheduled to end Oct. 31.
We will stream the briefing on in this story, the KXAN News App and on the KXAN Facebook page.
0 Comments