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Austin and Travis County reached the threshold Friday to qualify for the dire Level 5 of Austin Public Health’s risk-based guidelines for the coronavirus pandemic, which were only issued during the most severe spread of the disease in the community.
A third wave of coronavirus cases, composed mostly of unvaccinated residents, is being fueled by the rampant spread of the Delta variant, a mutation in the original strain of coronavirus that has alarmed federal health experts how contagious it is.
But Governor Greg Abbott passed an executive order on Thursday reiterating his ban on mask mandates by local governments and health officials on dissemination.
Travis County COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker:57% of people fully vaccinated
Dr. Desmar Walkes, Austin-Travis County Health Department, said last week that she had no plans to get into a lawsuit with Abbott over his orders. That tone changed, however, when Austin public health officials were asked on Friday if Walkes was reconsidering their previous stance.
“We continue to work closely with all of our federal and community partners to find ways to help our community cope with this current surge, but for now we are not ruling out any possible options as we evaluate the data and information.” Officials said.
The five-point scale of Austin Public Health’s pandemic guidelines seeks to help residents assess the spread and respond appropriately. Austin Public Health uses a seven-day rolling average of daily new hospital admissions for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, to determine risk level. The threshold for level 5 is when the average daily new admissions reaches 50. As of Friday afternoon, 54 new admissions were reported, bringing the average to 50.
More:Austin will reopen 2 COVID-19 test sites as coronavirus cases rise and Delta variant spreads
Abbott issued a statewide order in May preventing then Austin-Travis County’s Provisional Health Authority, Mark Escott, from requiring companies to comply with mask guidelines. At that time, Austin was seeing the level of new daily cases in the 1990s. Travis County recorded 546 new cases on Friday.
Escott began the mask mandate when Austin was in the midst of a coronavirus surge over the winter. Travis County was in Phase 5 from December 21, 2020 through February 10. Health officials credited Escott’s mask mandate, coupled with the introduction of vaccinations, for helping to get the area out of the surge.
Nationwide, however, the pandemic situation is grim: The Department of State Health Services reported on Friday that 5,846 patients were in Texas hospitals because of COVID-19. That is more than twice as many as two weeks ago, almost four times as many as a month ago and most since the end of February.
“Texans have mastered the safe practices that will help prevent and avoid the spread of COVID-19,” Abbott said Thursday in a statement touting “personal responsibility rather than government mandates.”
“They have the individual right and responsibility to decide for themselves and their children whether to wear a mask, open their shops and pursue recreational activities,” he continued.
Abbott, who was vaccinated against the coronavirus months ago, said vaccines are still abundant and the most effective defense against the virus. However, he added that they will be staying in Texas willingly.
Mayor Steve Adler announced on Wednesday that he wanted city workers to be vaccinated and asked City Manager Spencer Cronk to find a way to do it.
More:Adler Calls for Vaccines for Austin City Workers; The state will not allow it, says city manager
However, Cronk’s office said that due to Abbott’s order in May, vaccinations could only be recommended for city employees.
In Abbott’s orders released Thursday, he further clarified that no local government agency could require vaccines or mask requirements. If Abbott’s orders are violated, local officials or health officials can face fines of up to $ 1,000 daily.
Abbott also removed the clause that would have allowed Travis County Judge Andy Brown to set capacity limits for businesses if COVID-19 patients represented 15% of hospital capacity in the area for seven days.
In a joint statement by Ascension Seton, Baylor Scott & White Health and St. David’s HealthCare on Friday, local hospitals said they are feeling the strain from the current coronavirus spike.
“Our responsibility during this pandemic remains to balance our readiness to care for patients with COVID-19 while ensuring that patients who depend on our hospitals receive the necessary and timely care,” the statement said. “We don’t want the necessary non-COVID treatment to be delayed, as was the case in the early stages of the pandemic.
“Ascension Seton, Baylor Scott & White Health, and St. David’s HealthCare continue to ask our community to help us and each other by getting vaccinated, practicing social distancing, and wearing a mask. We can’t do much with the increased portability of the Delta variant stress enough. “
What changes under level 5?
In earlier stages, the Austin-Travis County Health Department would typically move the Austin area into the Level 5 pandemic recommendations if new hospital admissions stay at or above a daily average of 50 for three consecutive days.
However, Walkes on Friday said she also plans to keep a close eye on the coronavirus positivity rate, doubling time of new cases, and current ICU and ventilator patients to determine when the best stages should be changed.
The only thing that is likely to change in level 5 is the recommendation that unvaccinated or partially vaccinated people stop travel altogether, not only if it is absolutely necessary, as in level 4, to protect them from the delta variant.
More:Austin area health officials are urging residents to get vaccinated amid concerns about the Delta variant
The last time Austin was in Phase 5, the Austin Parks and Recreation Department reduced the capacity of outdoor facilities such as public swimming pools and athletic fields and required masks for those allowed in those spaces. However, at Abbott’s orders, local leaders cannot legally limit capacity in public institutions again.
Austin Parks and Recreation Department spokeswoman Kanya Lyons said unless Abbott’s COVID-19 orders are somehow canceled, masks cannot be legally required in their facilities.
“What we’ve been doing since we got into Phase 3 and Phase 4 strongly encourages everyone to wear masks as much as possible because we can’t ask for it,” Lyons said, adding that the department had to wait from Walkes about how it will affect visiting summer favorites like Zilker Park and Barton Springs Pool.
Austin Public Health agreed on Friday that masks can only be recommended as of now.
How did the cases get so bad in less than two months?
Leading up to the July 4th weekend of this year, Austin-Travis County Level 1 health officials had been excited if the community achieved herd immunity and the disease was unlikely to spread further.
Herd immunity could be achieved either by reducing coronavirus cases to a point where the further spread of the disease is likely to stop, or by 70 to 90% of Travis County’s residents currently qualifying for a dosefully vaccinated.
According to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services, as of Friday, 63% of Travis County’s residents who are 12 and older were fully vaccinated.
However, achieving herd immunity has become more difficult after the arrival of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.
The Delta variant is believed to be responsible for moving Austin from Phase 1 in early June to Phase 5 in late July, largely due to the vaccination reluctance of 30% of Travis County’s residents.
“The Delta variant has really changed things and the impact COVID has on our community,” Austin public health officials said in a statement Friday. “We know it’s daunting for many who have worked so hard over the past 18 months to do everything in their power to protect their family and friends only to see another surge.”
The Washington Post reported Friday that an internal slide presentation by the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contained data showing how the Delta variant causes more severe illness compared to other COVID-19 variants. It also spreads as easily as chickenpox, the Post quoted from the internal document.
The CDC slideshow also said the data shows vaccinated individuals can be just as contagious as unvaccinated individuals and can infect other vaccinated individuals, the Post reported.
However, this week’s CDC data also shows that vaccinated Americans are three times less likely to develop COVID-19 and die from it 10 times less than those who are not vaccinated, according to a USA TODAY report.
“It is more important than ever that we continue to work to vaccinate as many people as possible as it is the most effective way to prevent the further spread and surge in hospital admissions,” Austin Public Health said Friday.
Walkes said in a recent public briefing that the coronavirus has mutated into more dangerous variants as people across the country are choosing not to get vaccinated, allowing the disease to find ways to infect the population faster and harder .
These variants, like Delta, then find ways to bypass vaccine protection to infect those who have chosen to vaccinate. If a majority of the population chooses to remain unvaccinated, the coronavirus could mutate again into an even more deadly strain of the disease.
USA TODAY reporters contributed to this article.
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