Travis County could be at COVID-19 stage-four risk factor by Nov 4
AUSTIN, Texas - Austin Public Health officials say Travis County could potentially be at a COVID-19 stage-four risk factor as early as November 4th. That's according to a model by the University of Texas.
This as the number of new COVID-19 numbers rose by 7056 today in Texas, the largest spike since August 18th when there was 7,082.
He says if trends and actions don't change, Travis County could be facing another surge like the one in June. “Back in June we saw us at a similar stage to where we are now and 3 weeks later we were in crisis...that can happen again,” Escott said.
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In the model, it shows that by the third week of November, about 700 hospital beds would be needed. And, more than 200 ICU beds.
That exceeds the amount used during the surge in June.
"Now is the time to act," Escott said. "Now is the time for, if we have been relaxing, for things to go back into that more protective mode.”
Escott said with Halloween this weekend, he's concerned. "The potential for that to lead to an even worsening projection of the subsequent weeks - we all have to do our part, so we don't have a miserable Thanksgiving and Christmas," he said.
Also in the meeting, Escott went on to mention schools and their transmission rates. He said last week there were 32 new cases of COVID-19 in students, 24 in staff, and one in a person who may have been on campus but not be affiliated with the school. But, said transmission is not happening in classroom settings.
"Again we don't have any cases that are clearly attributed with transmission in a school type of setting,” Escott said. “We continue to see cases with an extra-curricular type of setting, like football and social gatherings outside of schools."