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Austin Public Health has set up an alternate care site at the Austin Convention Center to take in patients if area hospitals become overwhelmed.
Austin Public Health is preparing to use the alternate care site at the city’s convention center to open up beds in local hospitals as COVID-19 admissions continue surging in Central Texas. There were 115 new hospital admissions Tuesday, and the city’s interim health authority says ICUs could reach capacity by next week.
“My guess is that this week or next week, we will start the activation process for the alternate care site,” Dr. Mark Escott said Wednesday. “It seems very clear to us that we are going to run out of hospital beds and that we are going to have to stretch out resources in order to meet the needs of our community.”
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Phase 1A shots are currently being administered to health care workers, but supply is too short for Phase 1B covering senior citizens. (Shutterstock)
AUSTIN, TX Despite having received two shipments of Moderna vaccines to fight the coronavirus across Travis County, the allotments are insufficient to provide for those with greatest need regionally, the director of Austin Public Health said Tuesday. There is not enough vaccine from the state and federal government to provide to our community, Austin Public Health (APH) Director Stephanie Hayden said in a prepared statement. APH is rapidly distributing vaccine to individuals who meet the state s definition of Phase 1A, however, the small allocation does not allow us to offer vaccine to Phase 1B individuals at this time, Hayden added. APH is hopeful and advocating for larger volumes of vaccine in the future so that we can serve more people who don t have access to health care.
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Back in May, as the coronavirus pandemic appeared to be intensifying, Austin Public Health unveiled a five-stage chart that would not only provide instructions on how to stay safe but also indicate how much we needed to change life as we once knew it.
It established threat levels for those at high risk of experiencing severe symptoms of COVID-19, the disease linked to the coronavirus. Those include people older than 65 or people with diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, obesity, or those who are otherwise immuno-compromised.
The chart does not specify which businesses should remain open or be shut down, but it does recommend customer capacity levels and business practices. Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive orders regarding the pandemic have allowed most businesses to remain open.
This is a critical moment for the community, Escott said. We must decrease the spread of the virus in the community now. We cannot allow another increase in cases and hospitalizations following the upcoming holidays. Our hospitals will become overwhelmed and people will needlessly die.
Travis County Judge Andy Brown echoed the cries for caution and called on businesses to voluntarily limit occupancy, move to contactless operations and not operate between 10:30 p.m. and 5 a.m.
Business restrictions would be voluntary because Gov. Greg Abbott s executive order on the virus says business should stay open. Abbott, who received a COVID-19 vaccine on live television Tuesday, has said he won t impose new lockdown measures, even as cases climb.