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AUSTIN, Texas – The Austin hospital admission rate has been at levels for nearly two weeks that warrant a drop to Level 3 of Austin Public Health’s risk-based COVID-19 guidelines. It became official on Tuesday morning.
What you need to know
- Austin-Travis Co. was downgraded to Level 3 of its risk-based COVID-19 guidelines on Tuesday. It was in Stage 4 since September 28
- The downgrade was triggered, among other things, by a decrease in the 7-day average hospital admissions in the region
- According to current guidelines, it is recommended that fully vaccinated precautions be taken in some activities, but those who are not or partially vaccinated should take precautions in all activities described
- Austin Public Health said most hospital admissions and deaths in the area involve unvaccinated people
That was Austin’s medical director and health authority Dr. Desmar Walkes known.
The Austin area has been under Level 4 guidelines since Sept. 28, with some speculation that health officials were waiting to see what, if any, impact the Austin City Limits Festival had on new cases of the virus and hospital admissions.
“Now is not the time to let our vigilance down. While our numbers are dramatically better than at the height of that spike, we need to stick with the widespread, highly transmissible Delta variant, ”said Dr. Walkes. “The flu season is just getting started and it won’t take much to trigger another surge in cases and overwhelm our hospital systems again. Get vaccinated, get tested and stay home when you are sick. ”
What does the move mean for individuals and companies? APH has established guidelines for vaccinated and unvaccinated people. It is recommended that those who are fully vaccinated take precautions when attending private indoor gatherings. You can attend outdoor gatherings without any precautions. High risk individuals can eat out with precautionary measures and low risk individuals can do so without precautionary measures. APH says you can shop without precautions, but you should still take precautions when traveling.
Unvaccinated and partially vaccinated people are advised to take precautions when participating in any of the above activities.
Austin Public Health further reported that most hospital admissions and deaths continue to affect the unvaccinated. When announcing the region’s transition to Level 3 guidelines on Tuesday, they provided the following data points:
- The positivity rate, the weekly number of people who tested positive out of the total number of people tested, has fallen by 60 percent from 14.8 to 5.9 percent since its peak in early August.
- The 7-day moving average for hospital admissions is down over 60 percent, peaking on August 27 from 641.9 to 254.9 on October 11.
- COVID patients in local intensive care units decreased more than 62 percent from 237 patients on August 22nd to 90 on October 11th.
Unvaccinated guidelines from Craig on Scribd
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