2 More Die Of Coronavirus In Williamson County

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TX — Williamson County health officials on Wednesday reported deaths from the coronavirus for the third consecutive day, bringing the total death count to 48. This on a day that saw 291 new cases of the respiratory illness in the past few days alone.

The latest victims of the respiratory illness were two men in their 70s, Williamson County and Cities Health District officials reported. Further identifying details were not given in adherence to patient privacy laws.

"For a third day in a row, we are dealing with the heartbreaking news of loss in our county," Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell said in a prepared statement. "The 48 lives that are lost forever due to this virus are proof enough that we should take this pandemic seriously and do our part to keep ourselves and others as safe and healthy as possible. Wearing your face covering properly by covering your nose and mouth while you are in a public place continues to be one of the best measures to help reduce the spread of this deadly disease.”

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The coronavirus scourge has dramatically illustrated its still-lethal reach in Williamson County the past couple of weeks. The two deaths reported on Wednesday follow another of a man in his 90s on Tuesday and the deaths of three more people on Monday. On June 30, two women in their 50s and 80s were reported to have died of the illness. Last Monday, two more patients — men in their 40s and 80s — succumbed to the virus preceded the previous Sunday by a man in his 40s and days before that by the deaths of two elderly patients.

According to a statistical dashboard maintained by the Williamson County and Cities Health District, there are 109 people currently hospitalized across the county, including 32 at intensive care units and 17 placed on ventilators. Amid growing rates of illness, hospital resources are dwindling as illustrated on the dashboard: The availability of hospital beds is now down to 23 percent, ICU beds at 13 percent and 50 percent of ventilators.

The dashboard also indicates there have been 21,051 tests taken for detection of the virus, with a 30.26 percent positivity rate. The dashboard that health officials update daily showed an increase from the previous day of 291 cases, but health district spokeswoman Deb Strahler explained the total reflected the adding of a backlog of cases in one batch after figures weren't input during a data transfer that took place last weekend. The new case cont on Wednesday actually was 124, Strahler said.

"Those two days specifically were part of the data transfer dates where we were able to start sending some of the cases that we were not able to enter due to the system being unavailable on 7/2 and 7/3," Strahler explained in an email to Patch. "Hope that makes sense!"

The all-time high of new cases in Williamson County came on July 6, when 218 additional diagnoses emerged in a 24-hour period, Strahler confirmed.

Screenshot of the Williamson County and Cities Health District dashboard for Wednesday, July 8, 2020.

The cities with the greatest number of confirmed cases as illustrated on the dashboard are:

• Round Rock: 1,220.
• Georgetown: 574.
• Cedar Park: 390.
• Hutto: 236.
• Leander: 190.

The dashboard also records 220 cases in the sliver of Austin within county jurisdiction. The "other" category for areas with less than 20,000 population shows an illness count of 403. A health district spokesperson previously told Patch they are not legally bound to report more precise geographical information for areas of such sparse population.

In terms of fatalities, Round Rock again leads with 27 to date. Georgetown is a distant second with nine, followed by Cedar Park and Leander with six and one deaths respectively. The small sliver of Austin has recorded two deaths while three deaths have emerged from the "other" areas with less than 20,000 population.

The dashboard has undergone some changes following a weekend data transfer. For example, the "Cases by City" category no longer offers the option of seeing the number of active cases per county municipality. The only two options remaining in that portion of the dashboard are the number of confirmed cases and historical illness counts. The number of recovered cases also have not appeared on the dashboard since Tuesday.

In a response to an email from Patch late Tuesday, health district spokesperson Deb Strahler confirmed the unchanged nature of the dashboard statistics typically updated by 4:30 p.m. daily. She also explained why the active cases count per city was no longer one of the dashboard features.

"WCCHD [Williamson County and Cities Health District] transitioned to the state's contact tracing/data system over the weekend, and we will not have access to some of the data we were collecting prior," she explained in a reply to Patch's queries. "The Active/Recovered fields are no longer available to us due to cases being directed to the state for follow up — we do not have access to those data once assigned over. WCCHD is working to post 'estimated recovered cases' on the dashboard in future updates. Our data team is aware of the dashboard issue and is working to update it currently."

Williamson County officials first alerted the public of a "sharp rise" in new coronavirus cases last month. In a June 25 advisory, health district officials said they had seen a 15 percent increase in the 18-49 age group from May 22 to June 22. At that time, the largest drop in cases were reported in the 61-80 age group with an 8 percent drop.

During that time, active cases exceeded recovered cases by nearly 100 — 831 active cases versus 737 recovered. In the June 25 message, health officials also noted the percentage of positive viral tests had increased 22.1 percent from just the week prior. "This indicates that the amount of disease is increasing, so a higher percentage of those tested are positive," officials said.

“Our community’s health takes everyone’s participation,” Williamson County and Cities Health Director Executive Director Derrick Neal said at the time. “The best way to keep the balance of safety and the ability to be outside our homes will require everyone to follow the CDC guidelines that have been proven to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Wearing face coverings and social distancing have proven to be the most effective ways to reduce the spread of germs.”

Health officials issued guidance from the The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help blunt the spread of illness:

• Wear a cloth face covering.
• Social distance six feet from others when possible.
• Stay home when you are sick, except to seek medical care.
• If you are confirmed or suspected to be COVID-19 positive, isolate for 14 days.
• Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and help young children to do the same. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-base hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipes.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.

For more information on the latest COVID-19 cases count in Williamson County, please visit the Williamson County and Cities Health District dashboard located at www.wcchd.org/COVID-19/dashboard.php. The dashboard information is updated daily.

Those experiencing symptoms of respiratory illness such as cough, fever, and shortness of breath, are urged to contact their health care providers. However, health officials stress the importance of calling ahead before arriving at a clinic, urgent care, or emergency department to avoid potential illness spread.

For information on the county response to COVID-19, go to www.wilco.org/COVID-19.

Editor's note: This story has been modified to from the original version to reflect changes in the daily case count by Williamson County and Cities Health District officials.