AUSTIN, Texas — On Thursday, Austin Public Health officials announced that Travis County has moved back to Stage 4 COVID guidelines as cases and hospitalizations decline.
Despite the move, health officials urge community members to continue taking precautions, wear masks and remain socially distant. They also highly recommend everyone get their booster shot if eligible.
Omicron cases peaked in January 2022, and at one point 1 in 3 tests were coming back positive.
“With omicron, we saw test numbers and positivity rates that surpassed our previous records during the pandemic. This surge posed a threat to our hospital systems and our community as a whole,” said Dr. Desmar Walkes, Austin-Travis County Health Authority. “It’s thanks to the many community members who got vaccinated, continue to wear masks and follow safe practices that our numbers are moving in the right direction.”
APH monitors several key indicators to determine what stage of COVID guidelines the county will remain in, including the seven-day moving average of new hospital admissions, positivity rate and community transmission rate.
Stage 4 COVID guidelines recommends those who are partially vaccinated or unvaccinated to wear masks, avoid gatherings with people outside your household and only travel or shop if essential. Those who are vaccinated can gather with people outside their families and participate in activities but are still warned to take precautions against this contagious virus.
“We can’t simply make this virus go away because we are ready to get back to normal”, said APH Director Adrienne Sturrup. “We need to stay the course and that means getting boosted. All of our clinics offer all three vaccines and subsequent boosters. Take some time out of your day to get up to date with your vaccine protection.”
Austin Travis County’s first case of the BA.2 subvariant of omicron was confirmed in a lab this week. This subvariant is 39% more transmissible than omicron. Public health officials encourage everyone to get vaccinated and boosted to best protect themselves and their community.
APH clinics offer COVID-19 vaccines and testing without appointments.