AUSTIN, Texas -- In order to clear up confusion concerning public health recommendations as well as the perceived risk of the novel coronavirus in our community, Austin Public Health on Wednesday published a color-coded chart.
The chart divides the risk factor into five stages, with Stage 1 presenting the least amount of risk and Stage 5 the most.
Accordingly, Stage 5 involves the most stringent recommendations, including staying home if sick, practicing good hygiene, avoiding gatherings outside of the home, avoiding dining and shopping other than what is essential, and returning to work at essential businesses only.
As you move from Stage 5 to 1, the recommendations become less restrictive, and Stage 1 only involves practicing good hygiene, avoiding sick people and staying home if sick.
The chart further divides recommendations into categories based on people who have lower and higher levels of risk. Examples of people with higher levels of risk include those over age 65, as well as people with high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, obesity or who are otherwise immunocompromised.
@AusPublicHealth just released a color coded chart to help residents better understand what actions they should take based on their risk of contracting #Covid19 . I’ll talk a bit more about what this means for you in my nightly FB update at 7pm: https://t.co/5X8zEDrVIZ (6/6) pic.twitter.com/A8x3MZbwlK
— Mayor Adler (@MayorAdler) May 13, 2020
Austin Public Health considers Austin-Travis County, as of May 14, to be in Category 3. That means recommendations include practicing good hygiene, staying home if stick, wearing facial coverings, avoiding gatherings of more than 10 people, maintaining social distancing, avoiding non-essential travel for higher risk people and only returning to work at essential businesses and those that have been approved for reopening.