Hurricane Laura
The City of Austin is preparing to take in about 3,000 hurricane evacuees. The city’s Bryce Bencivengo says this summer disease shelter effort will look very different from years past because of COVID-19.
“Based on recommendations that we’ve gotten from the state of Texas and CDC, congregate style sheltering where everyone in a large room is not a good idea. So instead, we will be putting people in individual hotel rooms,” Bencivengo says.
They are processing evacuees at this Circuit of Americas. For those who have been exposed or have COVID symptoms, they will be directed to take a test and then sheltered separately.
The state’s ongoing fight to mitigate COVID-19 is complicating some efforts to prepare for Hurricane Laura. With Hurricane Laura bearing down on the Texas coast, Governor Abbott and the state’s Department of Emergency Management have had to work double time.
“Just because a hurricane is coming to Texas does not mean that COVID-19 either has or is going to leave Texas.” Like dealing with evacuations, the state has had to double it’s bus fleet. “Through a reduction in the number of people in the bus, we will be able to reduce the potential spread of COVID-19,” says Abbott
Social distancing and shelters is just part of the equation. According to Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd.
“We will be offering testing at those facilities in addition to PPE,” says Kidd.
COVID-19 update
Not much movement has been seen in Travis County’s coronavirus numbers over the past day. The 171 people in the hospital this morning are the same as yesterday. The numbers of people in the ICU and on a ventilator have continued to get smaller. It’s very possible by this time tomorrow, the county could surpass the 25,000 mark for recoveries. As of today, 26,017 cases were discovered and 24,833 of those are recoveries.
Another good drop in active COVID cases was seen in Williamson counting. Right now, the number of active cases at 305. Over the past 48 hours, that active caseload has plunged by nearly that same amount; a total of 303. In just the past day alone, the active cases have dropped by 67. Hospitalizations have been trending upward a bit this week. 80 people currently require inpatient treatment. 7,371 people have recovered; about 110 more than this same time yesterday.
Drive thru ballots
With more than 100,000 mail in ballots expected in Travis County alone, County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir is working on a plan that will let people walk up and drop off their ballot at a location on Airport Boulevard.
“In addition to the one walk up hand delivery, I want to put some drive thru locations downtown for people to drive through and surrender their ballot,” DeBeauvoir says.
The drive through locations can open before early voting begins. They would only be usable for people 65 or older or those with underlying health conditions.
University of Texas first day of school
It’s the first day of school for University of Texas Students and classes will look vastly different than what they’re used to. Art Markman, who is in charge of planning for the fall semester, tells CBS Austin They spent the last five months preparing for this.
“Fewer than 25% of our overall seats are actually being held in person, and the rest is being held online,” says Markman.
Those who do return to campus will be kept socially distanced in each classroom and masks will be required everywhere on campus.
Police search for East Austin shooter
The Austin Police Department is on the hunt for a man following an attempted arrest in East Austin that led the officers exchanging gunfire with the man who’s identified as Deonte Lee Rogers. Austin Chief Brian Manley says they were serving a warrant, but Rogers and another man ran off and shot at the officers who returned fire.
“At this time, it’s unknown whether or not the suspect was struck by those shots. But he was able to flee, jump a fence and escape through the woods,” says Manley.
The manhunt continues and the two officers are on administrative duty.
Fajita Drive to RM 150
It was only a week ago that the city of Kyle renamed Rebel Drive as Fajita Drive. That decision didn’t sit well with a lot of people, including many who said that the public was never able to weigh in on the change. The council has now voted to rescind the name change but the road won’t be reverted back to rebel drive. Instead, it will be called RM 150 until a committee drums up some new ideas.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-8-26-20
