AUSTIN (KXAN) — After downgrading Austin-Travis County to Stage 3 of COVID-19 risk levels last week and more issues with vaccination registration, health officials will provide further updates on the area’s pandemic response at 10 a.m. Friday.
A downward trend in new hospitalization and cases allowed Austin Public Health to move the area down in risk stages, but as people try to sign up for the COVID-19 vaccine through the agency, its website has had multiple issues. APH shut down sign-ups late Monday after technical problems kept people from being able to make appointments.
When the portal reopened Thursday at 6 p.m., 4,500 appointment slots were available. By 7:30 p.m., More than 13,000 people were in the queue waiting to get about 3,400 appointment times. By 10 p.m., all appointment times were filled and more than 12,000 were left in the queue.
APH spokesperson Matt Lara says changes to the website are coming.
“We’ve been working on a complete redesign of the system to make navigation, the language and the buttons more clear,” Lara told KXAN on Thursday.
APH also plans to test a drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination site this weekend at the Toney Burger Center in Sunset Valley. It currently has 1,500 people registered for it, APH says, and the hope is to expand capacity to give 3,000 shots per day.
Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott, along with APH Director Stephanie Howard-Hayden and Chief Epidemiologist Janet Pichette, will take part in the video conference.
We still stream the video conference live on KXAN.com and Facebook.
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