After a spike in the number of fatal drug overdoses last year, Austin is getting $2 million in federal funding for prevention programs, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) announced Tuesday. The money will be used to hire more peer-recovery coaches and for a public awareness campaign. City officials said this is the first time Austin has received […]
Public Health
Posted inPublic Health
Audit shows flaws in city’s plans for cold weather shelters
An audit presented to the City Council Audit & Finance committee last week says the city is not keeping up with planning for cold weather shelters and that city staff have not received sufficient training in dealing with people seeking shelter during extreme cold. In addition, the city does not appear to be consistently following […]
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Downtown Alliance praises ‘transformation’ of ARCH under new management
Just months after the management switch-up at the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, the Downtown Austin Alliance is praising what it calls “transformational change” at the downtown men’s shelter. The alliance’s safety and hospitality committee toured the facility in early December to learn about recent improvements made by Urban Alchemy, the California-based nonprofit now in […]
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County gets creative to counter ‘staggering’ number of fentanyl deaths
In the first half of this year, from January to June, 118 people in Travis County died from an overdose of fentanyl. This equaled the number of fentanyl-related overdoses from the entirety of last year. The outsized opioid-overdose figures spurred county leaders’ announcement of a public health crisis in May, which brought with it a host […]
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Travis County puts millions toward food access
On Tuesday, Travis County commissioners unanimously approved a series of contracts with local nonprofits and community groups, totaling $3.1 million, to help at-risk residents access healthy and fresh food. “The organizations receiving these funds will use the money in various ways,” a county press release explains, such as “enhancing their food delivery services, expanding pantry […]
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Travis County secures nearly 10,000 doses of life-saving overdose drug naloxone
Travis County has secured a bulk order of the life-saving drug naloxone in an effort to prevent opioid deaths. The shipment comes after the county issued an emergency declaration triggered by a record-high number of overdoses related to fentanyl last year. At an announcement Monday, Austin Public Health Authority Dr. Desmar Walkes said the county had secured […]
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Austin Public Health expands eligibility for the monkeypox vaccine
Austinites at risk of contracting monkeypox are now eligible for the vaccine, health officials said Monday. Previously, the vaccine was limited to people directly exposed to the virus or diagnosed with the disease. “We are really just classifying anyone at risk,” said Dr. Christina Madison with Wellness Equity Alliance, one of the health care organizations […]
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County hears calls to center voices of people impacted by overdose crisis
Last week, the Travis County Commissioners Court received a monthly update on the opioid overdose crisis, which the county declared a public health emergency in May. A lot of the conversation focused on the testimony of Aaron Ferguson, a local advocate for methadone access, who relayed the events of the community listening session to commissioners […]
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Travis County DA’s vow not to prosecute abortion crimes likely won’t make a difference, expert says
Texas’ so-called trigger law went into effect Thursday. The law, which the Legislature passed in 2021, was designed to be ready should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade and make abortion no longer a constitutional right. While the law makes it a crime to perform most abortions in the state, effectively banning the procedure, Travis County […]
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Update shows slow but steady rise of monkeypox in Travis County
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control, there are just over 15,000 confirmed cases of the monkeypox virus in the United States, and about 1,280 of those cases are in Texas. Travis County currently has 76 presumptive cases of monkeypox and 34 confirmed cases, according to Austin Public Health, bringing the total number […]
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County acknowledges lag on monkeypox vaccine supply
As of yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control is reporting 992 confirmed cases of monkeypox in Texas, 88 of which are in Travis County (nine confirmed and 79 “presumptive”). On Tuesday, the Travis County Commissioners Court voted to approve a continued declaration of disaster related to the virus. “While they’re labeled as presumed cases, pretty […]
Posted inTransit
Cap Metro expands free rides to cooling centers. Advocates for homeless Austinites push for more.
Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Tuesday it will give free rides to cooling centers on days when a heat advisory is in effect – that is usually when the temperature hits 103 degrees or higher. Previously, the transit agency offered free rides on days when the temperature was expected to be 105. Advocates for people […]