Local COVID Numbers Keeping Health Leaders Optimistic

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For more than a week, Travis County’s COVID-19 statistics have, for the most part, been trending in the right direction.  Early last week, Austin Public Health reported what appeared to be a flattening out of the rate of new cases, and the rate of new hospitalizations.  In the days that have followed, that trend has held.  While still quite high, Travis County Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott said Wednesday the new numbers are a very welcome change.

“We’re seeing a plateau and a trend toward the decrease in the number of new cases, we’re seeing a a trend toward the decrease in the number of new admissions to the hospital.  And these are refreshing things,” Escott said.

By no means is the region out of the woods yet, and on Wednesday more than 600 new cases were confirmed.  On the surface, a rise of that size may be cause for alarm, but Escott isn’t sure that concern is warranted in this case.

“I think that was probably lag from labs processing over the weekend,” he said.

By Monday, there was speculation that, even though the numbers are falling, another spike could be headed our way connected to the July 4th weekend.  As the week has progressed, that spike has not yet been seen.  Escott believes that if that trend holds throughout the remainder of this week, that will be a solid indication that the July 4th spike is no longer a concern.

Based on Austin Public Health’s COVID-19 dashboard, since Friday, Travis County’s number of hospitalized COVID patients has indeed steadily dropped at small intervals.  And Thursday is no different: 453 people are currently hospitalized, and that’s down by six from Wednesday morning.  18,696 total cases have been confirmed since March, 222 of which have unfortunately resulted in a person’s death.  However, 15,458 have recovered, and that is about 450 more than one day prior.

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