Everybody that can needs to stay home, stay on quarantine so that we can get a handle on COVID transmission. If you get sick and need to self-isolate, but can't, please do note that Austin-Travis County has an isolation facility. Please dial: 512-810-7554 to make arrangements.  

It's tough right now, but we can do this! 

Sí se puede! Yes we can!

-Angela Valenzuela

#ATX #Covid #StayAtHome #COVID19 #StayHomeSaveLives

For immediate release: June 30, 2020 Contact:  Austin-Travis County Joint Information System, 512-974-0699, HSEMpio@austintexas.gov Austin-Travis County Contact Tracing Abilities Impeded by Widespread Transmission of COVID-19  Residents encouraged to only leave home for essential travel

Austin, Texas – As COVID-19 cases continue to excessively surge in Austin-Travis County and around the state, contact tracing has become challenging due to widespread transmission of the disease. Contact tracing is the labor-intensive process used to identify those who come into contact with people who have tested positive for many contagious diseases – such as measles, HIV, and COVID-19. While Austin Public Health (APH) continues to hire new case investigators to follow the exponentially growing caseload, APH leadership and medical professionals plead with residents to do their part to protect themselves and others from the spread of COVID-19.

As indicated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), contact tracing serves are a vital function in the containment of infectious diseases like COVID-19. However, in times of uncontrolled spread of a disease with symptoms that may not present until two weeks after infection, contact tracing becomes difficult. Between trips to the grocery store, restaurants, and visiting homes of family and friends, a person can make hundreds of contacts in a single week. Combine this with a delay of lab processing, and the ability to get to a positive case’s contacts becomes a larger obstacle.

“Our concern is that the public may be relying on Austin Public Health contact tracing to contain this,” said Dr. Mark Escott, Interim Austin-Travis County Health Authority. “Contact tracing in this time of uncontrolled widespread transmission is not going to be as effective, especially if people continue to have increased contact with others outside of their household. We're asking that people not depend on contact tracing at this stage of the outbreak, but instead lend us their support and engagement to join our mission to slow the spread of this relentless virus once again."

Given the large number of cases and contacts of cases, APH is also facing the need to prioritize contact tracing in alignment with CDC guidance. Prioritization is based on vulnerability, congregate settings and workplaces, and healthcare facilities, including long-term care facilities.

Due to test result delays, APH wants to remind everyone if you are awaiting results, you should self-isolate immediately to help prevent the disease from spreading. This includes isolating yourself from other family members to decrease the risk of household spread of COVID-19, which is a significant factor in the current surge. If an individual cannot self-isolate in their own room with their own bathroom, if there are members of their household who are at higher risk for serious illness, or if a member of their household is an essential worker, they should call the City of Austin’s Isolation Facility at 512-810-7554 to make arrangements for free accommodation for the duration of their infectious period.
    
“If you have symptoms, you need to act like you have COVID-19, we are at that point in the spread right now,” said Janet Pichette, APH Chief Epidemiologist.

With Independence Day approaching our community needs to recognize the severe surge in cases and hospitalizations and celebrate responsibly by avoiding non-household gatherings, including gatherings with extended family and friends. Remember to:

•    Stay home, especially if you are sick
•    Wear a mask or face covering
•    Wash your hands
•    Avoid touching your face
•    Stay six-feet away from others
•    And, disinfect surfaces       

Isolation Facility 

Austin-Travis County has an isolation facility (ISOFAC) set up at a hotel for people who cannot safely self-isolate at home (e.g. tight living quarters with family members). This option is available to patients who have tested positive for COVID-19, as well as people who are under monitoring or investigation for the virus. 

Individuals wishing to stay at the ISOFAC should call the intake line at 512-810-7554 to make arrangements. Residents may be required to provide proof of testing status if they did not enroll with APH for testing. 

Individuals eligible to stay at the ISOFAC are not charged for the service. Patients who remain at an ISOFAC have a free hotel room with food and WiFi.

Please be advised, APH leadership will hold it's weekly media availability tomorrow, July 1 at 10:30 a.m. The media is encouraged to pose questions at that time regarding contact tracing. For more information and updates, visit www.AustinTexas.gov/COVID19.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott: More than 1,000 hospitalized in Texas for COVID-19

Late breaking COVID update just now in the Austin American-Statesman. Not covered, however, are the South Texas counties getting hit by COVID.  According to the Corpus Christi Caller Times and The Monitor out of McAllen, the virus is impacting the following cities: Mercedes, Mission, La Joya, McAllen, Donna, Alamo, and San Juan—that is, in Hidalgo and Cameron County.  As we know, this virus grows exponentially.

In my West Texas hometown of San Angelo, as of two days ago, 20 have it while many others are getting tested.  My family is doing their best to follow stay-at-home orders right now.  We are a very large state so each and every locale is tasked with containing it right now.  

I like how GoSanAngelo.com is tracking the virus, case by case, for the public to see.

The biggest concern, of course, are the three individuals who contracted it from "community spread," meaning that it's "out there" from unknown sources.  Sadly, on April 3rd, a newborn baby contracted COVID from the 7th person, a preteen female, that got it on March 31st.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to all.

-Angela Valenzuela

#Masks4All #Covid-19 #StayAtHome

Abbott: More than 1,000 hospitalized in Texas for COVID-19

by Nicole Cobler | Austin American-Statesman

Monday, April 6, 2020

More than 1,153 people are being treated for COVID-19 in Texas hospitals, an increase of more than 300 people from Friday, Gov. Greg Abbott said at a press conference Monday.

Speaking from a Texas Department of Public Safety Austin warehouse, Abbott gave his latest update on the state’s COVID-19 case count and its increase in personal protective equipment for health care workers.

Despite the rising hospitalizations and death toll, Abbott remained optimistic that the state is on track to lower the number of infections. Abbott said he spoke to governors across the country and health care leaders, including Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, ahead of his update.

″(Birx) said that it is clear from the data that mitigation efforts are working,” Abbott said. “She said that we are getting close to beginning to bend the curve, but also she made clear that if we let up now all of our efforts that have led to this point will have been for nothing.”

His latest news conference comes after the coronavirus’s death toll in Texas surpassed 100 over the weekend, rising to 140 fatalities Monday, according to the latest data from the Department of State Health Services. The daily count is a 13-person jump from Sunday and a 50-person increase from Friday.

More than 85,000 COVID-19 tests have been given in Texas, a 20% increase from the day prior, according to Abbott. Less than 10% of those have tested positive for the virus, he added.

Dr. John Hellerstedt, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services; Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management; and former Republican state Rep. John Zerwas, a Richmond physician and University of Texas System executive vice chancellor for health affairs, joined the governor.

Abbott last spoke at the DPS warehouse on March 24 to talk about the state’s supply of personal protective equipment, which includes face masks, gloves, gowns and other gear for health care workers. With boxes of medical equipment behind him, Abbott said then that his Supply Chain Strike Force obtained $83 million worth of supplies in just a few days.

On Monday, Abbott updated that count, saying that the state has distributed more than 1 million masks, 209,800 face shields, 2.7 million gloves and 170,000 gowns in the past week.

In the last 24 hours, Abbott said the state has received 2.5 million masks. He expects the state to receive an additional 3 million masks by April 11.

“The good news is those numbers are continuing to increase,” he said. “I feel more confident now than I ever have with access with (personal protective equipment) supplies.”

READ MORE: More than 800 hospitalized statewide for COVID-19

Abbott for the first time on Friday revealed the number of ventilators — a life-saving device for critically ill patients — available for use statewide: 8,741. By Monday, more than 6,000 ventilators were available, but Abbott said 7,350 anesthesia machines with ventilators “could be used if needed.”

In its daily count Monday afternoon, Department of State Health Services reported 702 fresh cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The state’s total of known cases is 6,812, an increase of 464 cases from the day prior.

Now, 157 out of 254 Texas counties are reporting cases of the coronavirus.

Harris County has 1,395 cases, the most of any county. Dallas County follows with 1,112, and Travis County comes in third with 418, according to agency data.

Much of the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas and lower parts of the Panhandle still have no known cases of the coronavirus, according to the department’s data.

As part Abbott’s executive order last month, which required certain travelers to self-quarantine for two weeks after arriving in Texas, the state set up checkpoints at the Texas-Louisiana border over the weekend.

Drivers entering the state from Louisiana must now complete a travel form to provide their address and information about where they’re traveling from. Violators face fines up to $1,000, up to 180 days in jail or both.

“This is a temporary situation where we will be working more aggressively to reduce the numb of people who are traveling from Louisiana into the state of Texas,” he said.

Abbott’s order also requires self-quarantines for air travelers from hot spot areas around the state, including New York and New Jersey.