COVID-19 update
A dozen more COVID hospitalizations have been tacked onto Travis County’s tally, taking that number today up to 434. 4,687 cases are active right now. Since March, officials say, 49,648 cases have been confirmed, resulting in 44,417 recoveries.
Restaurant curfew
So with those numbers in mind, Austin restaurants are being told to shut down for nightly curfews that begin tomorrow night. Austin Mayor Steve Adler says the curfew will run nightly until Sunday morning between the hours of 10:30 p.m to 6:00 a.m. noting during those hours delivery, pickup and curbside service is still allowed. He admits most eateries have been keeping with COVID codes but takes issues with bars reclassified as restaurants.
“And we have too many people too close to each other in these restaurant situations without their masks on,” says Adler.
But Governor Greg Abbott tweets his order stops Austin from what he describes as an arbitrary shutdown of businesses.
Off campus after break
Austin and Travis County schools have gotten a new recommendation from the county health Authority, Dr Mark Escott, who says to stay off campus after winter break.
“We are recommending that middle schools and high schools transition to virtual learning for the two weeks following winter break to reduce the community risk and to reduce the risk of transmission within the school system,” says Escott.
He also recommends all on-campus activities and extracurricular activities that can’t be done while social distancing and masking be postponed or suspended.
The Austin ISD employees union Education Austin is pleased with that recommendation. Union President Ken Zarifis tells CBS Austin that’s what he’s wanted to hear for a while.
“I’m a father of two AISD students and a partner of an AISD teacher, and it’s very important that we all keep safe. My kids need to be safe. I need to be saved. My partner needs to be safe,” says Zarifis.
Austin ISD’s leadership will now have to decide whether or not to follow that recommendation.
1B Vaccinations
State health officials have given local pharmacies the all clear to begin phase 1B vaccinations immediately. Terry Town pharmacist Rannon Ching tells KXAN, since the state made the announcement phones have been ringing nonstop.
“If there’s doses available, we want to get them into the arms of patients, whether they be in 1A or 1B,” says Ching.
The state’s announcement comes after Health and Human Services Commissioner John Hellerstedt said all doses should be used and no vaccine should be held in reserve. Phase 1B does include people aged 65 older
Emergency room confusion
As COVID continues to be the dominating illness this year, emergency rooms are dealing with patients who are also confused about what really is making them sick. Dr. Ralph Riviello with UT Health says it’s very tough to differentiate between COVID and the flu. But allergy symptoms are also tricky.
“Usually for seasonal allergies, there are ways to tell that apart. Unfortunately, COVID and the flu have a lot of overlapping symptoms,” says Riviello.
Doctors say that’s becoming a problem in and of itself because as hospitals are filling up with COVID patients, more people are also coming into the ER thinking that they have COVID-19 when they actually don’t.
Stimulus benefits Cap Metro
Capital Metro benefits from the $900 billion federal stimulus. $14 billion of that is going toward public transit agencies and $66 million will be allocated locally. Dottie Watkins with Cap Metro tells CBS Austin it is very much needed.
“Capital Metro is primarily sales tax funded. And so when the economy slows down, our main revenue stream slows down,” say Watkins.
She says without it, Cap Metro would struggle to maintain operations and employment. The funding will also cover PPE and the ongoing cost of enhanced cleaning.
Amazon in San Marcos
Amazon is expanding once again in Central Texas. Amazon will build a one million square foot food distribution center in North San Marcos. That’s according to city documents, basically applications for permits for the facility. An engineering company representative told the Community Impact website that the facility should be built and in operation in nine months. It’s not known how many people will work at the new center.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-12-30-20
