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WILLIAMSON COUNTY (KXAN) — Williamson County’s “Stay Home Stay Safe” order is now officially extended and in effect through April 30.
“Challenging times call for us to make hard decisions, but these have been made with the priority to keep our community as safe as possible, especially those who are part of the vulnerable population,” said Williamson County Judge Gravell in a news release.
County officials explained:
“The decision to extend the Stay Home Stay Safe order was made following President Donald Trump and Governor Gregg Abbott’s move to extend their executive orders. The Stay Home Stay Safe directives are intended to help control the spread of COVID-19 by keeping people isolated at home.“
At the Williamson County Commissioner’s Court meeting on Tuesday, Gravell said about 100,000 people in the county could end up contracting the virus.
County officials told KXAN Williamson County is about 26% of the Austin-Round Rock metro area. So they looked at modeling data produced by the University of Texas at Austin, and calculated the 100,000 number based on how many people in the metro area could be infected between March and August.
UT’s latest analysis, released this week, showed more than half a million people getting infected if social interactions dropped by 75%.
Researchers said they can’t measure yet how well we’re limiting contact right now.
How WilCo businesses are doing during stay home order
“It’s been pretty difficult. Rough times, but I would say all things considered, we’re doing okay,” said David Hulama, Owner and Brewmaster of Bluebonnet Beer Company in Round Rock.
The locally-owned brewery had to make some changes since their taproom had to close. They’re selling beer-to-go, hosting virtual happy hours and selling hand sanitizer made by a local distillery.
Hulama said, “It’s a complete shift of what we normally do in our day-to-day.”
He told KXAN they’ve been lucky enough to have people come and buy growlers and crowlers, but they’ve run out of both.
At this time, they’re only able to refill growlers until they can get more, a process they say has been slowed down during the pandemic.
“Every brewery and brew pub in the area is in the same boat,” Hulama said. “Of course, everybody’s supply is dwindling, and there are [only] so many suppliers, so as you can imagine, everybody’s got stuff on order, which is creating a huge backlog.”
Hulama said, during the stay home order, “If you have a choice, always choose local. Anything, anything helps. That’ll get us through these tough times, tough days.”
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