Travis County coronavirus cases rise sharply
Travis County cities saw a sharp jump in hospitalizations over the weekend. 129 people are hospitalized and 29 of those are on ventilators. Of the 4,545 cases of coronavirus found in the past few months, 3,456 have now recovered from the virus. It’s widely believed Austin and Travis County will attempt to get you back in your home this week. The rolling average of new daily hospitalization has reached that threshold of 20 imposed a few weeks ago by Mayor Steve Adler.
“Either we go back to the kind of stay-at-home we were in before or we’re going to have some people dying in our hospitals that don’t need to die,” says Adler.
This would put the city in the stage four on the risk chart. That calls for an end to all non-essential travel and for workers to stay home.
In the coming days, the impact protests have had should become much clearer. This week health experts are predicting to see a huge wave of new coronavirus cases directly related to the tens of thousands of people who haven’t been social distancing in those protests in the recent weeks. Dr. Charles Lerner with the Texas Medical Association, says the protests are breeding grounds.
“People have been close together, unmasked and shouting at one another,” says Lerner.
The concern is the strain this may cause on hospitals. Right now, the state of Texas still has nearly 15,000 beds available, along with 1,600 ICU beds.
The majority of Williamson County’s hospital beds are still open if needed. As of this morning, 55% of those beds are free. 67% of ventilators are free and 11 people are currently in the hospital. 30 have died. Currently, 297 cases are active and 577 are recoveries.
Restaurants developing contingency plans for COVID-19
With restaurants now up to 75% capacity, some owners are making sure that they have a contingency plan in place. Restaurant owner Harlan Scott with Industry in San Marcos tells KXAN he’ll test his employees as needed. If the results are good, the doors stay open.
“If I find myself in a situation where I can’t guarantee that the staff working in this building don’t have it because I wasn’t able to get them tested, then I’ll close my door,” says Scott.
They’ll stay closed for as long as it takes to sanitize and do a deep clean before allowing anyone back inside.
Ken Paxton threatens against vote-by-mail
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton continues to threaten county election officials about advising those who are worried about COVID-19 to apply for a mail-in ballot. Paxton’s letter updates county judges and election officials on recent decisions by both the Texas Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Both sided with Paxton that fear of COVID-19 is not a disability that qualifies all Texans to vote by mail. Paxton’s letter threatens legal action against anyone advising otherwise.
“Certain county election officials have refused to perform their duties and have instead unlawfully gone beyond the legislature’s determination of who is eligible to vote by mail,” says Paxton spokesman Mark Rylander.
Texas Democrats are hoping the U.S. The Supreme Court will weigh in on the issue.
Austin airport is offering incentives for commerce
Austin’s airport is hoping to reignite businesses within its walls. The city’s aviation department is offering incentives to concession companies through a deferment of certain fees. The department is also investing $15,000 into an online ordering and payment system for customers to help shops deliver orders almost anywhere in the airport.
Austin saw a sharp decline in sales tax revenue for April. The $16.29 million allocated to the city equates to a near 20% decline from April of last year. Only Midland, Odessa, Sugarland, McAllen and Dallas saw sharper declines for the month than Austin did.
Taxpayer union warns about Project Connect’s possible tax increase
The Travis County Taxpayer Union is worried about your bills and how they’ll be affected by Capital Metro’s $10 billion Project Connect plan. Capital Metro says they expect the federal government to cover about 40-45% of the bill. The union’s Roger Falk says that’s far from a guarantee.
“At the end of the day, the local taxpayers are going to be on the hook for the majority of the costs of Project Connect, and that’s going to extrapolate into higher property taxes, fees and other utility build increases,” says Falk.
Metro officials say it would be unprecedented if the federal government did not assist as they have in decades past.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-6-15-20
