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AUSTIN (KXAN) – Although Austin-Travis County has been on the threshold of Level 5 guidelines for days, the local health department did not announce an official transition to guidelines in a joint meeting of the Travis County Commissioners Court and Austin City Council on Tuesday .
Dr. Desmar Walkes, the local health authority, announced instead that it would be re-evaluating the guidelines as a whole.
READ MORE: Texas County Officials Grapple With COVID Containment Strategies As Governor Bans Local Mandates
“We are considering a new guide that will be released in the coming days,” said Walkes. “Science has changed. We have a new variant, the Delta variant, which has had an impact on our hospital systems and health systems. ”
For people who are vaccinated and at high risk, the new recommendations will likely include avoiding large gatherings that do not require masks, Walkes said.
For individuals who are not vaccinated, the recommendations will likely include choosing curb or delivery and only leaving home in a mask for essential activities.
The area hit Level 5 on July 30 after a seven-day average of 50 new hospital admissions. At the time, Austin Public Health reported that only about 16 ICU beds were available for the area’s nearly 2.3 million residents. On Tuesday morning, the rolling average rose to 61.
According to the Austin-Travis County’s COVID-19 dashboard, 408 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in our area, with 137 in intensive care and 80 on ventilators.
Walkes also announced Tuesday that at least 29 people in Travis County tested positive for the Delta variant, though that number is likely higher due to a lack of sequence testing.
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Walkes says we’ve seen an increase in cases in younger people in the past few weeks. Models show that strict adherence to social distancing and masking in schools will greatly improve our ICU bed capacity.
“As we move forward and evaluate the new Level 5 guidelines, we are assessing the impact the schools have on our case numbers, as well as the impact on our business world,” said Walkes.
Walkes said they will cover daily activities in the new guidelines. She said the masking instructions will stay the same. This means that everyone in public institutions should wear a mask regardless of their vaccination status.
We reached out to Austin Public Health to ask if they could give us additional details about the changes that might be made and we will update this story as soon as we hear about it.
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