Coronavirus updates
We’re now a half year into the pandemic, and local leaders say we have to stay the course until the vaccine hits the street. Officials say it’s been more than six months since Covid 19 broke out in Austin. Austin Public Health head epidemiologist, Janet Pichette, says they’ve been on the case since the beginning of the year. “Since that time, we’ve investigated 27,000 cases, but we realized we have a long way to go to protect our community from Covid 19 and return to normal” She and other health officials say the area has made great strides in the fight against Covid 19 and says they must continue. 90 Coronavirus patients are in a Travis County hospital this morning. That’s a slight decline from over the weekend, but it’s a significant drop from a week ago, when about 130 people were still hospitalized. Only 23 of those patients are currently on a ventilator, That’s another number that’s been trending in the right direction for a while. Out of the 27,701 cases confirmed over the past six months, 26,633 are now recoveries.
Longhorn Football
The first Longhorn football game has come and gone with fewer fans than originally expected, but still quite a few. Some tickets we’re held for students, all of whom had to be tested for Covid 19 before they we’re allowed in. Student Emily Morgan tells CBS Austin – that gave her some peace of mind. “It was definitely a lot like better knowing that everybody did test negative and the positive people won’t be here”
1103 students tested negative, 95 tested positive. Overall the stadium was held to about 20% capacity, or roughly 18,000 people. Another local venue us folding due to the Coronavirus shutdowns. East Austin Music and Comedy Club, the North Door is closing for good after 10 years in operation. The owners say they held on as long as they could, but staying open is just not possible anymore. That joins Cap City Comedy Club, which also announced last week it was closing after 35 years.
Williamson County’s number of active Covid 19 cases is unchanged from where it was heading into the weekend. Currently 95 cases are active, 74 of those involved someone in the hospital, County did add 34 more recoveries to it’s tally over the weekend, bringing that total up to 7,933. There have been a total of 8,100 and 43 confirmed since March.
Mayor Adler’s plan post-pandemic
The Austin City Council will hold another discussion on expanding the convention center this week. Mayor Steve Adler says Austin needs to be in a strong position once we come out of this pandemic. “Expansion that throws off money for cultural arts and the music industry. That’s how we find a lot of cultural arts in the city and as Austin continues to lease or purchase hotels” Adler says, they’ll consider a tourism public improvement district or T-Pit, that would funnel tax dollars into the hotel industry and provide more housing for the homeless.
Illegal Car Meet-ups on I-35 and Parmer
Austin, Round Rock, Pflugerville police, along with Travis County Sheriff’s office and DPS, spent some of the weekend cracking down on illegal car meet-ups being help near I-35 and Parmer Lane. Police say, between June 1st and September 9th, 10 arrests have been made there, and they’ve responded in 19 reports of gunfire. Multiple arrests were reportedly made on Saturday, and Austin police are expected to provide more details very soon on those arrests.
An arrest has been made in the hunt for a man accused of shooting at federal officers last month. Austin police say they were assisting US Marshalls who were serving a warrant for Deontay Lee Rogers when he took off running and began shooting. Officers fired back, but he did get away. He was arrested over the weekend at an apartment on North East Drive.
Governor Abbot’s proposal
Travis County Republican party very much in support of gov Abbot’s proposal to take away any city’s ability to annex if it defunds its police department. Andy Hogue, with the Travis County GOP, say’s it just makes sense. “People should be able to initiate a petition and vote to leave the city’s annexation area if they’re allowed to. But right now there’s really no way for the people to defend themselves, so I think that one good way to enforce that” When the proposals in its final form there could be more than just one reason for voters to dis annex themselves from a city.
And Austin fire chief, Joel Baker, becomes the victim of motorcycle theft. Surveillance footage from a rainy street parking garage shows several men stealing the bike. Bakers now offering $1,000 reward for its return. That silver and black Harley Road Glide Ultra was taken on September 11th
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-9-14-20
