Austin Mayor Buoyed By Lowered Coronavirus Numbers

AUSTIN, TX — Travis County gained 240 new cases of the coronavirus and 11 new deaths blamed on the respirator illness, raising the historical case count to 19,720 and 252, respectively.

The data are found in a statistical dashboard maintained by Austin Public Health. The dashboard counts 390 currently hospitalized with the virus, including 140 being treated at intensive care units and another 97 on ventilators to assist their breathing.

A promising metric on Monday's dashboard is the seven-day rolling average of hospitalizations, which was logged at 47 — the lowest since June 25, and far less than the 70 barometer health officials have said could trigger further restrictions to blunt illness. The rolling weekly average is seen as a key metric among health officials given its status as barometer that could trigger a citywide shutdown should a 70-plus version continue consistently.

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The hope is for that metric to remain low. Low hospitalizations would not only deter more drastic action by city officials — such as raising the alert level from the current Stage 4 that is the penultimate advisory in the scale of precautionary measures — but alleviate the stress on hospitals and prevent the need to use the Austin Convention Center as makeshift field hospital. The latter site already is prepped as a de facto hospital should a surge of patients emerge, but it's hoped the facility won't be needed as a satellite clinic of sorts.

Austin Mayor Steve Adler was buoyed by the lowered numbers — not a plateau but an outright decrease, he noted — as he crunched the numbers during his regular "Got a Minute?" segment on Facebook designed to apprise the public on illness trends.

But Adler urged residents not to rest on their laurels given the positive trends. Residents' adherence to health guidelines — the wearing of protective face coverings, practicing physical distancing, employing good hygiene and the like — is still needed. Case levels are still especially concerning at nursing homes that house the demographic most vulnerable to the virus and the Latino population still is disproportionately impacted in comprising 50 percent of cases, Adler noted.

The Latino rates have come down from previous peaks in the 60 percent range, but even the 50 percent representation is out of proportion given the roughly 35 percent of the population its members comprise in the county population as a whole.

Related story: Travis County Coronavirus Cases Drop, No New Deaths

"We're not in the clear, yet," the mayor said over the weekend. "We're now just about to see what we did on the 4th of July weekend reflected in the data that we watch. We will know soon if we did a better job with masking and social distancing than we did on Memorial Day. A big cluster or two, a big spike, and we'll be right back to where we were a month ago. Hopefully, our trajectory will continue to slow and even continue to move downward."

In other words, "wear a mask," the mayor suggested in a mantra that has been added as part and parcel of his Twitter profile. On that platform, the mayor also provided a map where free testing sites are available.