Photo by Roschetzky Photography
The City of San Marcos is in mourning after the death of one police officer and the severe wounding of two others during an ambush. Interim Chief Bob Klett says Officer Justin Putnam was shot and killed when he and two other officers responded to a domestic disturbance call at the Twin Lakes apartment complex in south San Marcos. The suspect ambushed officers inside with a rifle. The shooter was found inside the residence deceased from an apparent self inflicted gunshot wound following the breach of the residence by the Hays County SWAT team, SMPD and multiple responding agencies. Franco Stuart and Justin Mueller were rushed to the hospital and are in critical but stable condition.
The coronavirus death toll in Travis County has climbed to 25. Austin Public Health says there are 1,108 cases. Deputy Medical Director Dr. Chris Hewitt says a public testing enrollment portal will go online this week allowing you to get referred for a test without a doctor visit.
“We worked really hard with the City of Austin and with numerous partners here. Let’s make sure that we have an efficiently running testing site.” Hewitt says, “we average about 8 minutes per person.”
Filling out that form will not guarantee a test, but it will determine your eligibility for one.
57 of Hays County’s coronavirus patients have now recovered. Since the start of the outbreak, there have been a total of 127 cases and one death. The number dead in Williamson county has remained at four since April 7th. 95 of its 155 cases are now recoveries. Out of 44 total cases in Bastrop County, six have recovered and two have died. Nine clusters of coronavirus are under investigation by Austin Public Health, eight of which are in nursing homes or other senior care facilities. Austin Public Health defines a cluster as a location with three or more confirmed cases. 14 of the 25 deaths in Travis County have involved someone who was a resident at one of those facilities.
Texas now has a blueprint for getting back to work. Governor Greg Abbott wants to see some retail stores beginning to reopen on a limited basis. Rod McSherry with UT Systems Institute for Economic Development thinks there could be a lot of hesitation from business owners.
“Do you want to be first? There are obvious risks of being first, but there’s a lot of benefits to being first,” says McSherry.
The retail sector could begin opening its doors as early as Friday. By Wednesday, restrictions on elective procedures will be lifted. McSherry expects the hospitality industry to be one of the slowest to restart.
The historically low unemployment rate of 2.6% in the Austin metro area has been hurt badly by COVID-19. The latest numbers show the rate jumped 3.5% for March in Austin and Travis County. Specifically, the rate is 3.4% with nearly 25,500 people filing for unemployment.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler says Governor Abbott’s plan to reopen the private sector is pretty much in line with what Austin’s already doing.
“He has talked about opening up all retail in the city, but importantly, he says not to go into stores,” says Adler. “It’s only to get curbside service or to have home delivery. That’s not inconsistent with what we’re doing right now with restaurants with grocery stores.”
Adler expects people to be more disciplined about wearing a face covering as businesses slowly move into this next stage. At 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, you can begin shopping for emergency supplies tax-free as part of Texas’ tax-free weekend running through midnight April 27th. Items that will be included are batteries, first aid kits, flashlights and fire extinguishers. Masks and gloves are not included in the tax-free weekend.
Today Capital Metro began handing out masks to passengers. Some of the 40,000 masks recently donated to the agency will be used for this program. Driver Marion Maxwell tells KXAN they just want to stay as safe as possible.
It’s been tough dealing with people who don’t want to comply to those rules. We come here every day to complete a job,” says Maxwell.
Those masks will be given to anyone who tries to get on a bus without their own. Seven drivers have tested positive for COVID-19.
Williamson County says it’s seen a dramatic spike in overdoses and fake prescription drugs are to blame. Since April 1st, there’s been almost a five fold increase in overdoses tied to fake oxycodone and xanax pills. Officials say both of those fake drugs contain dangerous amounts of fentanyl, which by itself is about 100 times stronger than morphine.
