Photo by Roschetzky Photography
Austin and Travis County’s stay-at-home orders will remain in effect. Austin Mayor Steve Adler says this is in line with Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order to slowly reopen the economy.
“The governor’s new order says every person in Texas shall provide essential services. And now he’s added reopened services,” Adler says.
The governor’s order calls on you to stay at home and minimize contact with people you don’t already live with. If the local orders are not observed, thousands could die.
Hospitalization has become one of the main numbers that local health leaders are watching. Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott says the hospital system is in good shape.
“Our hospitalization has stayed steady over the past couple of weeks. There’s still plenty of hospital capacity if we see an increase in cases,” Escott says.
More than 2,000 people have been tested through Austin’s new online portal. The positive rate has dropped to 2.5%. A week ago that rate was 10%-12%.
542 people have recovered from COVID-19 in Travis County. Of the 1,816 confirmed cases, 53 have died and 85 are currently in the hospital. In Williamson County, 191 people have recovered. 10 of the county’s cases have died and 12 remain hospitalized.
Leander School District nurses have teamed up with Williamson County health leaders to assist with COVID-19 contact tracing. Stiles Middle School nurse Jenny Skopal tells CBS Austin they’re trying to figure out where an infected person has been and who they’ve been around.
“Trying to classify people that have been around them in a low risk, medium risk or high risk category,” Skopal says.
Other nurses will conduct daily temperature checks for two weeks of people who may have been exposed. A total of 12 nurses from the Leander district have signed on to help the county reduce the spread of COVID-19.
The number of active coronavirus cases in Hays County has gone down to 65 out of 176 total cases. Hays has seen one death in Bastrop County. 28 of the 89 cases have recovered and two have died.
More than two million Texans have filed for unemployment since the coronavirus pandemic uprooted small businesses. According to the Texas Workforce Commission, that’s equaled about three full years of claims. $3.4 billion has been paid out by the state so far.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on this year’s campaign season. How do you campaign in the midst of a pandemic? That’s the biggest question facing political candidates throughout Texas. Rice University political scientist Mark Jones says the campaigns find themselves walking a very fine line.
“You don’t want to be seen as insensitive or focused on something that’s not of concern to an overwhelming majority of voters;” Jones says, “when thousands of people are dying and hundreds of thousands are out of work.
Another problem is campaign funding is all but dried up especially for the down ballot candidates.
Free parking on South Congress may soon be a thing of the past for Austin. Phil Olmstead with the Nelson/Nygaard consulting firm says the pay-to-park option would put a two hour time limit for parking charging $2 the first hour and $3 for the second.
“There are distinct neighborhoods and needs within Austin that really require locally tailored parking solutions. There’s not a one-size-fits-all,” Olmstead says the city is currently wasting an opportunity to generate revenue by not charging to park.
Recommendation also requires parking permits for residents, businesses and their employees.
The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization has adopted its 2045 regional transportation plan with an estimated cost of $42 billion. It’s supposed to guide the Austin region through the next 25 years of road projects. Some CAMPO board members are questioning the decision to approve this plan, considering all of the changes that have been caused by COVID-19.
This news and more at News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-5-5-20
