Austin Public Health reports record-breaking COVID-19 numbers for the past three days

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin Public Health has reported record-breaking COVID-19 numbers the past three days. On Monday 133 cases were reported, on Tuesday 161 cases were reported, and today 118 cases were reported. These case totals are the largest for Travis County since the pandemic began.

Dr. Mark Escott with Austin Public Health says these case numbers are from 7 to 10 days ago so recent protests are not to blame. Instead, he says Memorial Day weekend activities and reopening plans are to blame.

“It's important for us to understand that this disease has not gone away,” he said. “This disease is still here. It's still a risk for us. We still have people hospitalized. We still have people dying and that doesn't mean people need to live in fear, but what we do need to do is take this seriously."

These past few days are the highest number of COVID-19 cases the county has reported. “We're seeing an increase primarily, it seems based upon the reopening based upon Memorial Day activities, but, quite frankly, we also have an increase in risk-taking behavior,” said Escott.

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Escott categorizes ‘high-risk behavior’ as people just not being as careful when it comes to the virus. He says people are not wearing masks as much, fewer people are social distancing, and people aren't washing their hands, things he says people need to get back into the habit of for now.

“Those simple precautions that we've been talking about for months now, in order to decrease the transmission of disease, decrease the risk that we're going to overwhelm our hospitals and really take control of this disease so that we can not only protect public health but protect our economy as well,” he said.

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Escott says Austin Public Health will continue to monitor trends over the next week.

“We don't need to necessarily pull the trigger on dialing things back until the hospitalization reaches the trigger of 20 new hospitalizations a day on that seven-day moving average, but that doesn't mean why not send out warnings sooner,” he said.

To learn more about the cases, visit the Austin-Travis County COVID-19 dashboard.

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