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Pflugerville reports most new COVID-19 cases in Travis County area
Learning of the spike in cases in Pflugerville has some of those who work in the area thinking twice about their safety.
PFLUGERVILLE, Texas - COVID-19 cases appear to be rising rapidly in Pflugerville.
According to data from Austin Public Health, the 78660 zip code saw the greatest increase in cases last week, reporting more than 9,000 cases the week of July 30th. The zip code with the second most cases was 78744 in Southeast Austin which had about 5,400.
"I think that we should take every precaution because more than a half million people have died," said Travis County Commissioner Jeff Travillion, precinct one. "We see numbers that are going up dramatically. We see a school year that is about to start again, we've got to take every precaution to make sure that we keep people as safe as we can."
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The commissioner said there's a similar trend in Pflugerville as with other zip codes identified with higher spread of the virus.
"Some of those are the areas that have the smallest numbers or percentages of people who've actually been vaccinated. And we understand from the data, that this is now becoming a disease of the unvaccinated," said Travillion.
Learning of the spike in cases in Pflugerville has some of those who work in the area thinking twice about their safety.
"Since I work here, I’m in contact with a lot of the public and my hands are touching boxes that have been everywhere, so that is a little concerning," said Jeff Burton.
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The spike is not necessarily concerning enough for him to get the vaccine though. "I’m just not ready. I’ve got a lot of questions about it. There’s a lot of stuff I don’t know for sure about it and that’s kind of where my stance is," Burton said.
Still, county commissioners said the shot is the best defense we have. They're trying to reach communities, like Pflugerville, to increase vaccination rates and encourage people to continue to wear masks and social distance.
"Each community will have places where you can go for vaccinations. If there are community groups that want us to come and visit, we will put mobile facilities there. We are doing everything that we can to save lives. We want the community to work with us and make sure that we're all protected. And we want to treat everybody with the love and respect that we treat our own grandma," Travillion said.
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