Travis County Gains 413 More Coronavirus Cases, 6 New Deaths

AUSTIN, TX — Health officials said on Thursday that Travis County gained 413 cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, and six new deaths were reported. The historical death count now stands at 189.

The latest numbers are from a statistical dashboard maintained by Austin Public Health officials. The data show a historical illness count of 16,983 since the onset of illness across the county. The number of people currently hospitalized numbers 479 — an increase of 62 from the previous day — that includes 151 being treated at intensive care units and another 103 placed on ventilators in order to assist with their breathing.

Given the rising numbers, health officials strongly believe there is a sustained person-to-person spread of the virus withing the community. Perhaps now more than ever, residents are being urged to wear protective face coverings when on essential outings, wash their hands often or use anti-bacterial gel liberally and maintain a six-foot distance from others outside their household.

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The seven-day rolling average for hospitalizations is at 71, one more than the level that was previously said to trigger a citywide shutdown.

Despite what seems to be a growing skepticism in some camps about the veracity of the pandemic — and the implausible emergence of an ideological divide as it relates to the tactics of mask wearing — the aforementioned steps are seen as the most effective measures to blunt the spread of illness. Walmart this week became the latest retailer requiring customers to wear protective face coverings as a condition of entering their stores.

For now, the region is under the penultimate Stage 4 alert level. A stay-at-home order was recently extended to Aug. 15 as officials grapple with the spread of respiratory illness. Should hospitalization rates and illness spikes continue, the region could go into Stage 5 — a risk level that could prompt a citywide shutdown in order to mitigate further spread of an illness for which no vaccine exists.

"We remain in Stage 4, though we remain very close to Stage 5," Austin Mayor Steve Adler warned in a Twitter message.

Meanwhile, hospital resources continue to dwindle in the face of the growing illness spread. As part of their regular updates on hospital space, officials at Ascension Seton, Baylor Scott & White Health and St. David's provided the latest capacity figures: "Currently, the 2,473 staffed beds within all three healthcare systems are 74 percent occupied, and the 483 ICU beds are 89 percent occupied," officials wrote.