Name: Austin coronavirus cases trending upward after economic reopening, health authority says
Brand: statesman.com
SKU: statesman-com-17
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Austin coronavirus cases trending upward after economic reopening, health authority says

preview

&nbsp;New coronavirus cases in Austin and Travis County have trended steadily upward in the weeks after the reopenings of some local businesses, but health officials say the actual number of infections could be seven to eight times higher than statistics show.Interim Austin-Travis County Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott on Tuesday told members of the Austin City Council that health officials are seeing about 60 new coronavirus cases in Austin and Travis County each day.On Monday, Travis had 88 confirmed new cases, the highest single-day increase since the pandemic arrived in Austin.In mid-May, the average number of daily new cases tracked closer to 45. The estimate of a seven- to eight-fold discrepancy in the actual infection figures, Escott said, is that many who have the virus don’t present symptoms and might never know they are sick."As expected, as the community started to open up, we are seeing new cases, which has trailed that policy change by about two and a half weeks." Escott said.On Monday, the total number of confirmed cases in Travis County had reached 3,360, included 93 deaths and 1,217 recoveries. In the greater Austin area, 97 people were hospitalized with the virus, including 41 in intensive care units and 21 on ventilators.While the number of cases has increased, the seven-day rolling average of new hospitalizations from the virus, which city leaders are closely monitoring to determine whether Austin will return to more strict social distancing guidelines, has stayed near 10.City leaders have said if the average exceeds 20, local hospitals could become overwhelmed, but right now, hospitals are still well within their capacity.Austin Public Health is in the process of increasing virus tests to 60,000 per month by July, which health officials say will help improve their ability to identify and track the virus. Additionally, the agency has plans to more than triple case its investigation and contact tracing staff by the end of June.Currently, Austin Public Health has 33 staffers handling those duties. including 11 who are bilingual.Austin Public Health Director Stephanie Hayden says that, as the department expands its efforts, it will bring on more bilingual workers.Health officials last week completed testing at nursing home facilities, though more than 700 tests have yet to be returned, and have focused on targeted testing of those deemed most vulnerable to the virus, including those with preexisting conditions or those living with someone who is vulnerable.Escott said local health officials have continued work to address high rates of infection, hospitalizations and deaths in nursing homes and long-term care centers, along with racial disparities that have emerged and continued in the pandemic, particularly among the Hispanic population.Austin Public Health officials have identified coronavirus clusters at four more nursing homes. Nursing homes have much higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths from the virus.Data from the agency show that from March through April, 22.5% of nursing home residents who tested positive for the virus died. Those who tested positive in the larger community died at a rate of 1.72%, the vast majority of whom were over 70 years old."COVID-19 doesn’t discriminate in terms of who it infects. It’s going to affect people of all colors," Escott said. "Where it does discriminate is in our communities of color. It discriminates based on poverty."As of the end of May, infected people in Austin’s Hispanic community were hospitalized at a rate of 70%, by far the highest of any racial group in the city. African Americans were hospitalized at a rate of 13%, and white, non-Hispanic people had a hospitalization rate of 15.9%.To address that disparity, Escott said elected leaders must invest in public health priorities such as preventative medicine and care for such common ailments as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and obesity, which increase the risk of death for those with the virus."We’ve known for years, for decades that these disparities were there," Escott said. "I think the shameful thing is that the things that I mentioned, in particular hypertension and diabetes, they are very easy to diagnose."Escott said emergency physicians see patients with complications from such illnesses over and over, when early diagnoses and treatment would give them far better outcomes, especially if COVID-19 is involved."Somehow as a society, we have not managed to be able to find a way to provide basic health care for all people who live here," he said.Hayden said 14.8% of Austin residents are uninsured and 12% live in poverty, making them even more vulnerable to complications from COVID-19."If you overlay that information with health disparities, with poverty, and also uninsured, and then you put COVID on top of it, those are the same ZIP codes that have the most positive cases," Hayden said.Concerns about a reopened economy in which more people are interacting, coupled with ongoing protests against police involving thousands of people over the past several days, have increased consternation from many officials, who already had been preparing for a possible surge in cases this month or into July.Escott said hospitals still have plenty of space to treat COVID-19 patients and those suffering from other conditions that need to be addressed. He advised those who have avoided getting medical attention to seek out care and prevent their conditions from worsening.Loading…

&nbsp;New coronavirus cases in Austin and Travis County have trended steadily upward in the weeks after the reopenings of some local businesses, but health officials say the actual number of infections could be seven to eight times higher than statistics show.Interim Austin-Travis County Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott on Tuesday told members of the Austin City Council that health officials are seeing about 60 new coronavirus cases in Austin and Travis County each day.On Monday, Travis had 88 confirmed new cases, the highest single-day increase since the pandemic arrived in Austin.In...

Austin coronavirus cases trending upward after economic reopening, health authority says

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS