Drive-through vaccination clinic
Travis County officials host a weekend drive-through vaccination clinic in Southeast Austin. More than 650 doses were administered. Austin Mayor Steve Adler says he’s very hopeful the county could get more of these opportunities out into the community.
“Working with Austin Public Health and Dr. Escott to make sure that we can scale up however many vaccines the state and the federal government will give to us,” Adler says.
The city and county are looking at areas that could host even larger drive-through clinics, possibly handling thousands of people every day. However, supply levels remain the biggest hurdle all across the city in the county.
One shot vaccine
Austin and Travis County are also hopeful for a Johnson & Johnson vaccine to be greenlit soon. Local Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott says should the new vaccine get emergency approval later this month, it would have a drastic impact on the Texas vaccination effort.
“The other big factor that we have here is that it’s a single dose, a one shot, and you’re done, and that certainly makes the logistics of delivering vaccines much easier,” Escott says.
Johnson & Johnson can rapidly produce the vaccine following the initial production. He says that would be a win for the fight against COVID-19.
COVID-19 update
Active coronavirus cases have taken a plunge over the weekend in Travis County, down to 4,292 falling by 567 between Friday morning and this morning. Total hospitalizations are beginning to come down more rapidly. That number is now at 446 with 132 people in the ICU. Overall, 71,831 cases were found with 66,855 recoveries.
At this point last year, COVID-19 had not yet arrived in the Austin area, but it was on the radar of Austin Public Health. It has now been a full year since the health authorities turned their attention to the virus. Since then, officials say, more than 412,000 hours of combined manpower have continued to fight that pandemic.
Much like its neighbor to the South, Williamson County is seeing continued progress in its COVID-19 numbers. Right now, 760 hospital beds are open and free across the county along with 77 ICU beds. Active cases have fallen to 1,395. 33,322 confirmed cases with 31,583 recoveries.
Citywide homeless ban
The Austin City Council will hold a meeting tomorrow to talk about a citywide homeless camping ban. This comes after the nonprofit Save Austin Now submitted more than 27,000 signatures on a petition to get the ban reinstated. Co-founder Matt Mackowiak is hopeful that voters will say yes to that this spring.
“Our homeless population has doubled in a year and a half from 2,500 to 5,000 people. I believe it will double again in the next two years if we don’t succeed on May 1st,” says Mackowiak.
So the council can either adopt the ordinance as written by Save Austin Now or call for a public vote, which is much more likely to be the decision. Ballot language, though, has to be finalized by Friday.
There’s been a lot of talk about the newly approved Homeless Encampment Assistance Link. Austin’s new homeless strategy officer Dianna Grey says despite what some people may believe, it’s not about just kicking people out of camp sites that are deemed to be too dangerous by the city.
“The idea behind the HEAL initiative is not just to clear encampments. It is to engage actively with people living in encampments,” Grey says.
She doesn’t expect it to re-criminalize homelessness as some have claimed, but it will help connect people in those camps with services and resources
Bastrop Monument Relocation Committee
The Bastrop Monument Relocation Committee will be making recommendations on where the county court can move the Confederate monuments currently on the courthouse grounds. The committee’s Cheryl Lee says they’ve narrowed it down to two locations.
“One property off of 969, The Colorado RV Park. And the county recently acquired property out off Highway 95 also Cool Water Drive,” says Lee.
Lee says they have about $40,000 of the needed $50,000 to make the move.
Firefly Aerospace tapped by NASA
Cedar Park based Firefly Aerospace has been tapped by NASA to help deliver technology and scientific tools to the surface of the moon. NASA says Firefly will use itsBlue Ghost Lander for the deliveries that should begin sometime in 2023.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-2-8-21
