Austin is reconsidering shutting down again
The City of Austin is talking about another shutdown and possibly more restrictions today. Austin Area Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott says whatever is decided, it will be a discussion with Governor Greg Abbott.
“I don’t think the governor wants to see people unnecessarily die and I’m hopeful that that partnership will continue and that if we make the recommendation that we need to dial things down further or dial some things off, that that will be a productive dialogue,” says Escott.
They are looking at the different options that are within the governor’s order to slow the flow of COVID-19 infections. Additionally, people still have the power to dial back themselves, so city leaders won’t have to make that call.
Governor Greg Abbott is actually tamping down some criticism of Austin in a letter that he sent this week to Mayor Steve Adler. Adler tells KXAN the letter expresses gratitude for Austin taking some of the appropriate steps to quell the COVID transmission. However, he still will not sign off on any new shutdown.
“Any attempt to close businesses back down into a lock down or stay-at-home standard, would be in contradiction of my executive order,” Abbott says.
The council can try all it wants, but unless it comes from his office specifically, businesses do not have to shut down. As much as Adler’s appeared to be rushing toward trying to lock the city back down, he now says he’s actually growing more optimistic that recent behavior changes may have had enough of an impact to reverse the course.
COVID-19 update
The number of people currently hospitalized in Travis County for COVID-19 has made a move in the right direction over the past day. 458 is still a very large number, but it’s also nine fewer than the same time yesterday. 159 people have died since March, but almost 9,900 have recovered.
While Texas continues to see big rises in new cases of coronavirus, it’s not all bad news according to Dr. John Carlo with the Texas Medical Associations COVID-19 Task Force. He says even as we see more cases, the mortality rate is dropping. However, he does admit there’s still a lot we don’t know
“So a lot of unknown still on, you know, the severity of cases in the illnesses,” says Carlo.
Another unknown is when the cases will finally peak. Until then, your best bet is using common sense, wearing a mask, and maintaining proper hygiene.
Austin stands at an important crossroads as the number of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations may be showing signs of slowing. In order to get that trend picking up steam, Austin Public Health is recommending that you scale back all daily activities by 90%. Secondly, keep all interactions with others to an absolute minimum. That includes foregoing any plan you may have to attend church.
COVID-19 testing results take too long
Even in this modern era of technology, it is still taking a week or more to get lab results from COVID-19 tests in Austin and Travis County. Austin Public Health officials say that lag makes many of the results “relatively useless.” In some cases, people have actually already recovered by the time results came back, showing that they were positive.
Austin union teachers demand a safer work environment
Education Austin is telling its members to refuse to work on Austin ISD campuses for now and continue online classes because of COVID-19. Union President Ken Zarifis says online classes are being backed by the Texas Education Agency.
“The commissioner has said in his guidelines that they assure that they will provide quality online instruction as well as in-person,” says Zarifis
This is not a strike or work stoppage, in fact, teachers are not allowed to do that in the state of Texas. This is a refusal to work in an unsafe environment.
Hays school official accused of sexual misconduct
A Hays school official has been accused of sexual misconduct by two students who posted their allegations on social media recently. That employee works in the district’s communications department and is currently on administrative leave. The district says the employee worked as a teacher at Hays High School from 1998 until 2017 when he then changed positions.
Texas Republicans take legal action
Refusing to take no for an answer, Texas Republicans consider legal action against the city of Houston for canceling their convention next week. While addressing new delegates online, Texas GOP party chair James Dickey let them know the party has no intention of letting Wednesday’s convention cancellation by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner go unchallenged.
“The Republican Party of Texas received the letter canceling our 2020 Republican Party of Texas State convention and we will pursue all legal options possible against the city of Houston and Houston first,” says Dickey.
Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough has extended an invitation to host the in-person convention there.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-7-9-20
