AUSTIN, Texas -- As Texas and Austin remain mired in increased cases of COVID-19 and resultant hospitalizations, Austin Mayor Steve Adler took to Facebook Live Monday night outline scenarios that would allow us to keep the economy open and possibly allow students to return to schools in the fall. 

What You Need To Know


  • Coronavirus uptick continues in Austin

  • Mayor Steve Adler Monday outlined several scenarios to deal with the increase

  • One scenario involved a 35-day stay-home order

  • Said that could be avoided if people wear masks, maintain distance now 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has taken some action, again closing bars and tubing businesses as well as reducing restaurant occupancy to 50 percent. Still, he hasn’t put a requirement for facial coverings in place, and Adler doesn’t think current measures go far enough.

“I still think we need to pull back even more than what the governor is suggesting,” he said.

Using various modeling data, Adler’s key point was that if people in Austin and Travis County go about things like they did in May and early June – visiting bars, going out in public without masks - coronavirus numbers will continue to climb, hospital beds will become more scarce and we’ll be forced to return to the shutdown measures we endured in March and April.

However, Adler noted, some models suggest that if people wear masks in public spaces and practice social distancing in great enough numbers, another shutdown of the economy could be avoided and there is a chance students could be back in classrooms in the fall.

“If you want us to be able to move forward and open schools in the fall then your behavior has to be different – masks everywhere you’re around other people, social distance. If you’re sick, don’t go out,” Adler said.

Adler warned that not wearing a mask and practicing social distancing could lead us to a situation where we have to shut the economy down again, perhaps several times, and even require that we bring in health care workers from across the nation to help tend to Austin’s sick.

One possible scenario the mayor outlined involves a 35-day stay-home order. He speculated that if the order were to be enacted and people wore masks and practiced social distancing following that period, schools could open in the fall and businesses could remain open.

Adler was adamant that he hopes the 35-day shutdown could be avoided if enough people immediately practice the safety measures he outlined.