During Tuesday’s joint session of the Austin City Council and Travis County Commissioners, Dr. Desmar Walkes, Austin-Travis County Health Authority, announced Austin and Travis County are moving into Stage 3 COVID recommendations as hospitalization numbers continue to improve across the region. The area had been in Stage 4 for weeks.
“Now is not the time to let our guard down. While our numbers are dramatically better than they were at the peak of this surge, we need to remain committed with the widespread, highly transmissible Delta variant,” said Dr. Walkes. “Flu season is just beginning, and it will not take much to trigger another surge of cases and overburden our hospital systems again. Get vaccinated, get tested, and stay home if you are sick.”
Key data points provided on Tuesday include:
•The positivity rate, weekly number of people who test positive out of the total number of people tested, has dropped 60 percent, from 14.8 to 5.9 percent from its peak in early August.
•The 7-day moving average for hospitalizations has decreased over 60 percent, peaking at 641.9 on Aug. 27 down to 254.9 on Oct. 11.
•COVID patients in local ICUs has decreased over 62 percent from 237 patients on Aug. 22 to 90 on Oct. 11.
The Stage 3 recommendations include the following:
•Fully vaccinated individuals can participate in indoor and outdoor private gatherings and dine and shop without masking if allowed by the business. They can also travel with masking. Fully vaccinated high risk individuals should wear a mask when dining indoors.
•Partially vaccinated or unvaccinated individuals, can participate in indoor and outdoor private gatherings, dine, shop, and travel with masking. High risk individuals should avoid these activities if they are non-essential.
“We have asked so much of our community throughout this pandemic, and time and again they have risen to the challenge by taking care of one another,” said APH Interim Director Adrienne Sturrup. “This latest surge has proven no different. When we work together to wear masks, get vaccinated, and stay home when we are sick, we can protect our community, our hospitals, our healthcare workers, and drive COVID cases down.”
