COVID-19 Update
Travis County is inching closer to the 200 mark for coronavirus hospitalizations. This morning there are 187 people in the hospital. That’s an increase of 24 from this time Friday morning. 1,981 cases are active right now. Out of the 34,612 total confirmed since March, 32,165 people have recovered.
Williamson County’s current coronavirus caseload shows 42 people in the hospital this morning, along with 363 active cases, neither of which appear to have changed since Friday morning. But the county does show an upward bump in recoveries. 10,479 people have made a recovery of the 10,842 confirmed cases overall.
Austin high schools canceled classes
Austin high schools in-person classes have been canceled through at least Wednesday. That means all those classes will now be digital. That follows an increase of confirmed cases on campus. AISD’s employees union Education Austin President Ken Zararfis tells CBS Austin he pitched the idea to AISD Superintendent Dr. Stephanie Elizalde and hopes it’s longer.
“Dr. Elizalde ultimately agreed, and took these precautionary measures. We can only hope that the school stays closed for the whole week,” says Zarafis.
There have been more than a dozen confirmed cases at Austin High, four of which were recent.
New antiviral drug coming to Texas
Shipments of a new approved antiviral drug are on their way to Texas. The drug is called Bamlanivimab and Dr. Jan Patterson with the UT Health System says she really expects it to make a big impact when it comes to treating symptoms caused by COVID.
“The potential for it to be a game changer is that it decreased the hospitalization rate in people who are at high risk of progressing,” says Patterson.
The State Health Department will prioritize distribution in areas with higher numbers of confirmed cases and hospitalizations, and that distribution very likely will begin as early as this week. Patterson says the drug is for outpatient use and has been shown to prevent hospitalizations.
Election results protest
Hundreds of President Trump supporters filed into the streets of downtown Austin over the weekend, protesting the election results. Supporters like Daniel Hernandez tells CBS Austin there’s just too many unanswered questions.
“There is voter fraud. It’s all over the place. It is not…It is not invisible. It’s visible and it’s coming out to light,” says Hernandez.
He and others say our democracy is being destroyed and they’re demanding a recount even as Trump won Texas. The weekend’s Trump rally was said to be peaceful with no issues of violence.
Black Austin Coalition rally
A group called the Black Austin Coalition hosted a rally over the weekend demanding the City of Austin to cough up financial restitution. The group’s Donald Dallas says the city owes the black community for what he says is more than a century of brutality.
“We have been dehumanized, without restitution. We have been killed without justice, We have been deprived of economic foundations,” says Dallas.
The group also submitted a resolution to city leaders demanding the formation of a black business district and an embassy specifically for black Austinites.
APD combats human trafficking
Human trafficking remains a problem in Central Texas, and the Austin Police Department is hoping to get more eyes on the street to combat it. Lieutenant Chris Gualdo says they’ll be working with other departments this week to hash out who could do what and how.
“The training is gonna be tailored to each specific city division, for example, somebody working at Bergstrom Airport- the triggers or the identifiers may be different than like an EMS person who may respond to something at a Walmart or residence” Gualdo says.
They’ll also discuss forming an anti-human trafficking plan for major events.
Bill to make finance classes mandatory
For years, many parents have criticized public schools for not applying certain real world fundamentals to basic core subjects like math for example. Real estate agent and state representative Vikki Goodwin has filed a bill that would emphasize teaching about personal finance in math classes, something she says many of her clients have very little understanding off
“Clients didn’t really understand how their credit scores work or didn’t understand interest and just a lot of the financial terminology that is necessary when you’re buying a house,” says Goodwin.
Many schools do offer finance as an elective class, but Goodwin’s bill would make it mandatory.
Rethink I-35
A group of residents has formed a campaign called Rethink I-35 which floats the idea of completely removing traffic for I-35 allowing it to become a transit oriented and pedestrian friendly boulevard. The group says doing so would address racism, gentrification, congestion and pollution. The group’s proposed Rethink I-35 is an alternative to TXDot’s planned eight mile overhaul.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-11-16-20
