COVID-19 update
For yet another day, Travis County saw a pretty good drop in hospitalizations. 215 COVID patients are in the hospital today. As of this time yesterday, there were 230. The number of people in the ICU or on a ventilator have also gone down in the past 24 hours. A total of 25,062 cases have been confirmed in 23,772 of those are people who have recovered.
As of this morning, Williamson County has 71 fewer active COVID cases than it did 24 hours ago. The county has confirmed 7,624 cases in total since March. Of those, 695 are still active. 75 people are in the hospital, and that is up by 4. 112 more recoveries have been added to the tally since yesterday, and that total has now up to 6,824.
At the beginning of the pandemic, local health officials focused on flattening the curve. For the most part, the community came through on that. Then the main metric became hospitalizations. Travis County Health Authority Mark Escott says the community again made great strides in bringing that number down.
“Relatively flat amount of new cases and new admissions is translating to a relative decrease in those measures,” says Escott.
Because of that, the county now should be down to stage three on the COVID-19 risk char. But Escott says that won’t be happening. Now, new cases have been set as the main metric. That’s prompting some critics to accuse Austin Public Health and local health officials of constantly moving the goal post well beyond their own self imposed metrics.
If you’ve had coronavirus and you have recovered, Austin Public Health still doesn’t want to see you out in public without a mask. Officials say it’s likely that those who have recovered have developed some form of immunity. However, they say that’s not enough to warrant going in public right now with an uncovered face.
Lillian Gallagher passed away
The Leander school district has lost one of its own to COVID-19. Officials say Lillian Gallagher, who was part of the child nutrition team in a can elementary, has passed away. She has not been on the school’s campus since March. The district says it will make counselors available for students who need them.
Internet access from school districts
The Pfluggerville school board will meet tonight to discuss a way to make sure every student has internet access. District Chief Communications Officer Tamra Spence tells CBS Austin they’ve learned through a survey that quite a few students don’t have it.
“Out of those 21,000 responses, we had under 1,000 who responded that they did not have internet access in the home,” says Spence.
The district may make similar moves, as Austin did in the spring, when buses were outfitted with WiFi that were rolled out to various neighborhoods. Until then, the district will offer WiFi for students to use in school parking lots.
UT employees petition
University of Texas employees are petitioning the board of regents to not only move most of the semester’s classes online, but also to give them hazard pay. As of this morning, about 770 signatures have been collected on a petition. It demands any class with more than 10 students be moved online and that each worker be given $500 more a month, along with computers and internet hot spots.
Austin housing market
Austin’s housing market continues to recover and housing costs are still growing. Austin Board of Realtors’ Romeo Manzania says the Austin/Round Rock metro median home price grew by almost 11% in July, as compared to the same time last year. That brings the typical home price up to $353,000.
“It’s right in line as well, where they’re median last year in July with $285,000 there and now well above $300,000 man’s.
Manzania believes pent up buyer demand, combined with growing confidence and community health practices, the economy and record low interest rates helped push a more than 21% jump in sales.
Officer Nick Anderson hospitalization
Cedar Park police officer Nick Anderson has left the hospital after catching a bullet in the arm shot over the weekend. He was allegedly shot by Joseph Taylor during a near 18 hour standoff. Taylor is accused of shooting three officers in total, but only Anderson required surgery. He’s expected to fully recover, but Police Chief Mike Harmon says it may take about nine months before he can return to the job.
Fajita Drive
Rebel Drive in Kyle will soon be gone. The city council has passed a resolution to rename the street Fajita Drive in honor of long time for meat vendor named Juan Antonio “Sonny” Falcone. He is credited with making the dish a household name across central Texas in the late 1960s. The name change will impact businesses, renters and homeowners alike. All will be required to fill out change of address forms.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-8-20-20
