AUSTIN, Texas – Health officials in the Texas state capital again urged people Wednesday to avoid gatherings during the holidays to slow the spread of the coronavirus as hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients skyrocketed toward on Christmas weekend.
There is such a high transmission rate in Austin that people should consider themselves at risk wherever they go in the city, said Dr. Mark Escott, the Austin-Travis County Acting Health Authority, during a news conference. Very often, people transmit the coronavirus to family and friends with whom they feel comfortable without wearing a mask.
There has been a 97 percent increase in positive COVID-19 cases and an 80 percent increase in the seven-day average of people hospitalized with the novel coronavirus in Austin since Dec. 1, Escott said.
“This is a critical time for the community,” added Escott. “We must slow the spread of the virus in the community now. We cannot allow another increase in cases and hospitalizations after the next vacation. Our hospitals will be overwhelmed and people will die unnecessarily. “
Travis County Judge Andy Brown echoed pleas for caution, asking businesses to voluntarily limit occupancy, move to contactless operations, and not operate between 10:30 p.m. and 5 a.m.
The City of Austin also entered Stage 5 of restrictions in its fight against COVID-19, the strictest in its pandemic control plan.
The trade restrictions would be voluntary because Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order on the virus says businesses should stay open. Abbott, who received its first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, has said it will not impose new lockdown measures, even as cases increase.
This week, the number of daily hospitalizations in Texas surpassed 10,000 for the first time since an outbreak in July that led to nearly 11,000 daily hospitalizations.
Nearly 26,000 people have died in Texas from COVID-19, the second-highest death count in the country, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Over the past two weeks, the moving average number of daily new cases has increased by 1,330, with 735 new cases per 100,000 people. One in 254 people in Texas tested positive in the past week.
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