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Despite Travis County’s move to relaxed coronavirus guidelines this week, local hospital numbers on Friday were slow to match hopeful expectations for an end to masking and social distancing this fall.
Austin and Travis County had 23 new hospital admissions for COVID-19 on Friday. The rolling seven-day average of new daily hospital admissions, which is helping Austin Public Health establish guidelines for the most medically vulnerable members of the community, rose from 19 to 20 after two days.
On Tuesday, Austin Public Health moved to Level 3 of the agency’s risk-based guidelines as the 7-day rolling average stayed below 30 for several days in a row.
As per level 3 guidelines, it is now safe enough for anyone fully vaccinated to shop and dine indoors and to congregate outdoors without wearing a mask when social distancing is used. Even those at high risk for severe COVID-19 symptoms but who are fully vaccinated can shop safely indoors and gather outdoors without face covering if they can socialize in the process.
More:Austin is returning to level 3 guidelines after a steady decline in COVID-19 cases, health officials say
Level 3 allows unvaccinated individuals to shop, eat, travel, and meet others safely both indoors and outdoors when masked. High-risk individuals and the unvaccinated should only gather, travel, shop, and dine when absolutely necessary and wear masks.
If the Austin area can stay between a moving average of five to 14 for an extended period of time, Austin Public Health could move the area to Phase 2, where all fully vaccinated residents can put their masks off unless they travel.
Level 2 would mean holiday parties could be held this fall that featured smiles instead of mask patterns.
Unvaccinated individuals would still have to wear masks in all public situations at levels 1, 2 and 3 according to the guidelines.
On Friday, Austin Public Health tracked 201 people in the hospital with COVID-19, an improvement from the pandemic record high of 653 patients set on August 25.
Up to 85 people were in intensive care units in the Austin area because of COVID-19. That number hit a pandemic record high of 237 on August 22nd. The 59 coronavirus patients on ventilators remained a significant improvement over the pandemic record high of 174 on August 29th.
More:COVID data from the Austin area for October shows significant improvements in hospital stays and vaccinations
Austin Public Health and Travis County’s health departments reported:
• 1,621 active COVID-19 cases.
• 196 new cases, bringing the total pandemic count to 118,150.
• A total of 1,133 deaths from COVID-19 during the pandemic.
The rate of positivity for COVID-19 tests is 5.3%. Anything over 5% is considered too high and qualifies the area as a COVID-19 hotspot.
Travis County’s vaccination rate continues to improve too. As of Friday, 81.72% of Travis County’s residents age 12 and older had received at least one dose of vaccine. Approximately 71.93% of the district residents aged 12 and over are fully vaccinated.
Texas total recorded 5,606 people hospitalized for COVID-19 on Friday, extending a series of declines and improvement after hitting a summer high of 13,932 on August 26th.
More:Texas has 5,606 hospitalizations for COVID, the lowest total since July
The pandemic peak in January was 14,218 Texans hospitalized with COVID-19.
The Texas Department of State Health Services reported 529 available occupied intensive care beds for adult patients, up from the pandemic low of 270 on September 9. Although the state only had 101 occupied pediatric intensive care beds, that is still much higher than the pandemic low of 64 such beds reported on Aug. 4.
A critical shortage of occupied ICU beds with 38 beds for adults and nine cots remained in the trauma service region of central Texas, which comprises 11 districts of the state health department, which also includes the metropolitan area of Austin. The region hit a pandemic low of zero beds in the adult intensive care unit on September 5 and zero beds in the children’s intensive care unit on September 4.
Nationwide, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported:
• 4,513 new COVID-19 cases.
• 275 new deaths.
• By Friday, 72.80% of Texans 12 and over had received at least one dose of vaccine. Approximately 63.05% of Texans 12 years and over are fully vaccinated. (Boys under the age of 12 are not yet eligible to take the vaccine.)
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