Austin Public Health is hosting a walk-up Covid-19 vaccine clinic at the Delco Activity Center this Thursday and Friday from noon-7:30 p.m. or until all its vaccines are administered. Vaccines will be available to all residents age 18 and older. No appointment is needed. If supplies run out, staffers will help schedule appointments for those […]
Public Safety
Posted inPublic Safety
City Council exploring ways to shrink APD scope of work
This Thursday, City Council will meet to work through more of the logistics of the city’s biggest policy priority over the last year: reimagining public safety. In a memo sent to Council on April 9, Rey Arellano, assistant city manager for public safety, detailed several agenda items that revolve around “budget amendments and decoupling activities.” […]
Posted inPublic Health
Both of Austin’s Covid-19 vaccine ‘hub’ providers are struggling to fill appointments
UT’s Dell Medical School (along with UT Health) and Austin Public Health are reporting issues getting people signed up to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Both organizations were designated by the state as “hub” providers. The state created the hub model so larger organizations – a couple dozen across Texas – could vaccinate a lot of people at […]
Posted inPublic Health
City’s vaccination task gets harder
Interim Austin-Travis County Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott has been advising City Council members and Travis County commissioners that there was more demand than the city had available vaccine for all the Travis County residents who want to be protected from Covid-19. But as of Monday night, Austin Public Health was offering 14,000 appointments, yet […]
Posted inPublic Health
Austin health officials won’t relax Covid-19 guidance this month
Numbers tracking the coronavirus pandemic in the Austin area have stopped improving and could worsen, new projections show. The projections, released Friday by UT’s Covid-19 Modeling Consortium, show lines flattening in the weeks ahead and possibly rising. The consortium reports a 32 percent probability that the pandemic will worsen here and a reproduction number of […]
Posted inPublic Health
Local organizations step up to expand vaccine access in East Austin
Michele Rountree had reservations about getting the COVID-19 vaccine at first. But the more research she did, the better she began to feel. And when she heard the African American Youth Harvest Foundation was hosting a walk-in vaccine clinic, something clicked. She had known about the organization since she moved to Austin more than a […]
Posted inPublic Health
Austin’s top doctor says possible Covid surge unlikely to overload area hospitals
New Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations in the area are declining, but they are still well within the threshold to keep Austin and Travis County at stage 3 of Austin Public Health’s risk-based guidelines. The city’s interim medical director previously had said numbers might drop low enough to move down to stage 2 by mid-April. That […]
Posted inPublic Health
Austin Public Health had 2,800 Covid vaccine appointments left open Thursday
Austin Public Health opened up Covid-19 vaccine appointments Thursday evening, but by the end of the night, it still had 2,800 appointments available, raising questions about how the agency is distributing doses. This is the second week in a row it has had unclaimed appointments after a Thursday night release. Though the state opened up […]
Posted inPublic Health
Austin Public Health leaders ask community to consider virtual Easter celebrations
Austin Public Health leaders are asking the community to consider celebrating Easter week differently than normal to avoid a third surge of Covid-19 cases. During a news conference Wednesday, interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott encouraged people to take part in virtual church services instead of gathering in person. He said those who do choose […]
Posted inPolice
It’s been more than a year since Austin started training new police. It could restart this summer.
City Council members voted Thursday to make changes to how Austin police are trained, with the eventual goal of restarting cadet classes by June 7 at the latest. The police academy has not welcomed a group of new trainees since February 2020. The vote was split 8-1-2, with Council Member Greg Casar voting against, and […]
Posted inPolice
Assistant Chief Joseph Chacon confirmed as Austin’s new interim police chief
Assistant Chief Joseph Chacon will be Austin’s interim police chief starting April 11. City Council approved his appointment Thursday night. “This is not an easy city, probably, to be police chief,” Mayor Steve Adler told Chacon before the vote. “It’s a city that is really trying to truly draw on a white board and advance […]
Posted inPolice
Austin nominates interim police chief, permanent chief to be named by August
Joseph Chacon, an assistant chief of the Austin Police Department, has been nominated to serve as interim police chief as Brian Manley readies to leave the department this week. City Manager Spencer Cronk announced Chacon’s nomination in a memo Monday morning. Chacon will serve until a permanent chief can be appointed. State law requires that City […]