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Austin health officials update guidance for the fully vaccinated Drew Knight Replay Video UP NEXT On Tuesday, the City of Austin extended its Health Authority Rules through May 18, including updates for individuals who are fully vaccinated. These rules are the basis for the city's continued mask requirements. “As more people become vaccinated in our area, we are able to move to more lenient requirements for those individuals,” said Dr. Mark Escott, Interim Austin-Travis County Health Authority. “However, we have not yet reached herd immunity in our community. To get the...

Austin Public Health expands COVID vaccine eligibility to 18 and over Austin Public Health expands COVID vaccine eligibility Starting Monday, April 12, anyone 18 years of age and older can book an appointment through Austin Public Health. FOX 7 Austin's John Krinjak has the details. AUSTIN, Texas - Starting today, April 12, anyone 18 years of age and older can book an appointment through Austin Public Health.  This move comes two weeks after Texas health officials said anyone 16 and older could get their shot, but, as they continued to deal with backlogs and limited supply, Austin kept their...

KUT Cars line up at at drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination site at the Toney Burger Activity Center in South Austin last month. Numbers tracking the coronavirus pandemic in the Austin area have stopped improving and could worsen, new projections show. The projections released Friday by UT's COVID-19 Modeling Consortium, show lines flattening in the weeks ahead and possibly rising. The consortium reports a 32% probability that the pandemic will worsen here and a reproduction number of .91. A rate above 1 would mean the pandemic is growing in severity. "We're seeing plateauing of the projections...

Austin Public Health leaders on Friday announced plans to expand its age eligibility for the coronavirus vaccine to anyone 18 years or older starting Monday. Austin Public Health Director Stephanie Hayden-Howard said vaccine eligibility is able to expand once again because the demand for appointments by the 40-plus age group is continuing to decrease. The age eligibility for Austin Public Health first dropped to the 40-plus group on April 5 because those who were previously given priority — everyone in the Phase 1A, 1B and 1C sub-groups designated by the Texas Department of State He...

The Texas House on Thursday granted preliminary approval 117-29 of a measure that would prohibit the governor from closing houses of worship, even during disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic.  Gov. Greg Abbott classified houses of worship as essential when he issued a stay-at-home order soon after the coronavirus arrived in Texas, which allowed churches and other religious sites to stay open if they chose to do so.  The Senate approved an identical bill in March. Republican senators said they want to prevent the possibility of a future governor closing churches during a disaster; leader...