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Williamson County says 19 of its patients that have been infected with Coronavirus are now in recovery. Judge Bill Gravell says the county has less infections than other comparable counties, but that should not go to people’s heads.
“Before you get too optimistic, let me say this, we don’t have any test kits. We don’t know what we don’t know.” Gravel believes there is still a long road ahead for Central Texans as they combat the outbreak, “candidly, we’re closer to the start of this than even the middle of this.”
The judge says he stands by the shelter-at-home orders and believes residents abiding it will make the big difference.
63 cases reported in Williamson County as of this morning. There’s still three deaths being reported by Austin Public Health. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has risen to 351 for Austin and Travis County. In Hays County overall there are 45 cases, 34 are still active and 11 have recovered. Bastrop County Judge Paul Pape says there are 10 cases there but nearly 300 people have shown symptoms that could be related to the virus. They have not been tested yet.
Four Capital Metro employees test positive for Coronavirus, three of whom are bus drivers. Cap Metro says the fourth person is a mechanic who doesn’t have interaction with the public while on the job, officials say, in all, those drivers work a 1/2 dozen routes between the three of them.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler and Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt tap some local star power in a new message to young adults. Speaking from Austin City Hall, Matthew McConaughey says young people are not as bulletproof as they may feel. Now is not the time to venture out and put others at risk.
“This is a science fiction film no more, it’s reality man. Deal with it please, we need you to,” says McConaughey.
That message comes as 44 UT students have returned from a spring break trip to Mexico with Coronavirus. People ages 20 to 29 still account for the largest number of infections in Travis County of the overall 351 cases. As of this morning 98 are in that 20 to 29 age range. The Austin City Council is expected to vote in favor of an economic relief package next week. Mayor Pro Tem Delia Garza tells KVUE she thinks that will be especially helpful for people who won’t see enough benefit from a federal stimulus.
“We do have a reserve fund, and we’re working on exactly what is in there, what we can use,” Garza says they also have to prioritize things like safety equipment for first responders.
There’s no clear dollar amount yet, but it will be a big budget item on the agenda
Hutto Animal Control Officer Wayne Cunningham has gotten his job back. He was one of the 44 city employees laid off last week. Interim City Manager Charles Daniels says they heard the public loud and clear when they said animal control was a vital service, especially with rabies season. Money was found to bring Cunningham back. He will receive all of his sick leave that he had before the layoff and his five year status as a city employee. The city says it’s growing financial crisis will be calm, pounded by a projected $1 million loss in sales tax revenue.
With more than 275,000 unemployment claims filed in Texas last week, that’s the fifth most in the nation, it’s an increase of more than 120,000 from a week earlier. Filing hasn’t been easy for a lot of people, Larry Wayne tells CBS Austin he’s been trying since March 20th but the website keeps crashing and phones are always busy.
“If you’re not able to actually file your state unemployment, you’re naturally not gonna be able to receive your actual federal unemployment benefits either. So it’s really a double whammy,” says Wayne.
The Texas Workforce Commission will now backdate the payments to the day a person became unemployed.
Mental health professionals have some advice for people who found themselves out of work. As hundreds of thousands of Texans now find themselves filing unemployment claims, mental health specialist Tera Warner says step one in dealing with the change is mourning the loss.
“Being able to even take time to grieve that and grieve any of this normalcy is important, but we also want to be able to kind of set limits on that so that we can look for good things as well.” Warner also advises establishing some sort of structure in your day and relying on friends for support, “to stay connected and stay connected to positive people and folks that are supportive and helpful.”
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-4-3-20
