The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Travis County moved past 35,000 on Tuesday, according to county health authorities.
Travis County health officials said 251 more people in the area tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, bringing the total confirmed cases in the county during the pandemic to 35,020 as of Tuesday.
Health authorities also reported three more deaths from coronavirus-related complications. The county’s pandemic death toll is now 469.
The county’s number of active cases hit 2,077 on Tuesday, reaching levels seen in early August.
Of the 196 people in the hospital Tuesday with the coronavirus, 65 were in intensive care and 39 were on ventilators. The county reported 39 new hospital admissions for COVID-19 on Tuesday.
The area’s seven-day rolling average of new hospitalizations, which reached above 30 on Monday for the first time since Aug. 17, was 32.4 on Tuesday, according to health authorities.
The record for the highest seven-day average number of new hospitalizations for the Austin-Travis County area stands at 75.1, reported on July 8.
The seven-day rolling average of new hospital admissions is one of the main factors health officials look at when considering coronavirus-related restrictions in the city.
In a virtual COVID-19 update Monday, Mayor Steve Adler said the city is prepared to take “drastic action” if the number of cases and hospitalizations do not drop in the near future.
“We are not at the place yet where we have hit the trigger requiring a real drastic action, but we could just be a few days away from moving to orange,” Adler said. “If that doesn’t work, a week or two later — not very far off — we could be looking at taking more drastic action, which none of us want to take.”
Adler did not specify what those measures would look like, but urged people to wear masks in public and in settings with family and friends.
He added that people who ignore pandemic safety measures will hurt the ability for officials to keep schools and businesses open.
“When you are not in your house, and you are around people in public, you should wear a mask, period,” he said.
Local health officials on Tuesday released pandemic-related safety guidelines for holiday gatherings and activities.
Of those who have tested positive for the coronavirus in the pandemic, 48% were Hispanic, according to recent Austin data. Non-Hispanic whites made up about 33% of cases, 7% are Black and 3% are Asian.
According to the 2019 census estimates, the county is about 49% non-Hispanic white, 9% Black, 7.4% Asian, and 33.6% of the population is Hispanic.
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