We’ll be updating this story throughout the weekend with the latest local news on the coronavirus. If you’d like to go through a roundup of Friday’s news on COVID-19, read it here. If you have a news tip or question, email us at news@KUT.org.
New Austin rule requires social distancing at stores
Austin Mayor Steve Adler on Saturday signed an order requiring retail businesses like grocery stores to ensure social distancing of at least 6 feet between customers in front of and inside stores.
“Controls may include, but are not limited to, requiring each person to take a shopping cart or placing markers on the floor,” the order said. The city said the goal is to keep people from being too close together and spreading the coronavirus.
The rule went into effect at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Read it here.
Austin-Travis County opens first COVID-19 testing site
The City of Austin and Travis County opened its first COVID-19 testing site Saturday, one of 11 sites in a public-private partnership between Austin Public Health, St. David’s, Ascension Seton, UT’s Dell Medical School and Baylor Scott and White.
The city says there is a big gap between the number of tests available and the number of people seeking a test, so sites will prioritize individuals who are sent by referral and have an appointment. Priority will be given to individuals with specific symptoms and risk factors such as travel, close contact with confirmed cases, or underlying health conditions.
Federal disaster loans open to small businesses and nonprofits
Austin small businesses and nonprofits hurt by the COVID-19 crisis can now apply for emergency loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The Austin City Council is also considering a gap-financing program that could provide loans to applicants as they await the federal loans.
The SBA disaster assistance loans became available in Texas after the state received a federal disaster declaration over the coronavirus. The loans offer borrowers up to $2 million to pay “fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that can’t be paid because of the disaster’s impact,” according to this SBA factsheet.
The loans can be paid back over terms as long as 30 years, with interest rates of 3.75% for small businesses and 2.75% for nonprofits.
Read more from Mose Buchele here.
FDA approves first rapid COVID-19 test
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first rapid point-of-care COVID-19 test, which can deliver results in less than an hour.
Cepheid, a Silicon Valley diagnostics company, made the announcement Saturday, saying it has received emergency authorization from the government to use the test.
While the agency has approved about a dozen other COVID-19 tests in response to the public health emergency, this is the first one that can be used at the point of care.
Cepheid said the test kits will be available by the end of the month.
Until now, to get a test result, a health care worker would take a swab from the back of a person’s nose, and send it off to a public health, commercial or hospital lab, or to a lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The process can take days.
The newly approved test kit still involves taking a nasal swab, but the test can be done in a doctor’s office or clinic with a detection time of approximately 45 minutes, according to Cepheid.
Read more from NPR here.
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