Travis County Commissioners Court gets COVID-19 update from Austin Public Health

AUSTIN, Texas - The Travis County Commissioners Court received its weekly COVID-19 update from Austin Public Health.

Dr. Mark Escott discussed the latest numbers concerning the coronavirus and here are some highlights from the data:

7-day moving average of new confirmed cases in Travis County has "maintained its plateau for quite some time" and has been overall flat since 7/29
Doubling time is at about 90 days. Dr. Escott says it's a "very healthy spot" but they would like it to be higher
New cases continue to decrease
An increase in cases in younger people which helps ease hospital admissions
In terms of hospitalizations by race and ethnicity, more than half are in Latinx community, around 30% White, and about 8% identify as African-American. This is the first time, Dr. Escott says, since July that the numbers are more in line with African-American community representation.
Positivity rate has been at a steady decline but Dr. Escott says they'd like to get it below 5%, especially before schools reopen in September.

Austin Public Health recently released its recommendations on going back to school and it is recommending a phased-in approach. Dr. Escott says school should open up at 25% for the first two weeks regardless of what stage the county is in.

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Today's update comes as Texas surpassed 10,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths Monday. Officials say roughly four in every five of those deaths were reported after June 1.

Texas joins New York, New Jersey and California as the other states to surpass 10,000 coronavirus deaths. Florida is also approaching the grim milestone.

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