Lea esta nota en español The chief medical director for the city of Austin said Tuesday the area is now at stage 2 of Austin Public Health’s risk-based guidelines. The change is effective immediately. Dr. Mark Escott said the decision was made based on the “significant decreases in cases that we’re seeing.” “We feel confident […]
Austin Public Health
The regional health authority tasked with protecting Travis County residents from infectious disease and other environmental threats.
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City waives permit fees for food charities
Effective immediately, City Council has voted to waive permit fees, fines and other charges for charitable feeding organizations like food banks and soup kitchens that distribute food to vulnerable populations and increase access to healthy foods in the community. The waiver also applies to operational requirements and grease traps for food establishments. “This would ensure […]
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Vaccination in the county continues to soar, as FDA approves Pfizer for kids
The Travis County Commissioners Court and Austin City Council convened Tuesday to receive updates from interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott on the Covid-19 vaccination progress in the region. Thirty-eight percent of individuals in Travis County were fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, while 13 percent of individuals were partially vaccinated. Just over half the county, […]
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Removing barriers to vaccine a top priority as supply exceeds demand through Austin Public Health
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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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Health officials urge Austinites to get tested for Covid if they traveled over spring break
About a quarter of adults in Travis County have gotten at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and the Austin area is seeing record-low numbers of coronavirus cases. But health officials were clear at a news conference Friday morning: “We’re not out of the woods yet.” There are at least two Covid-19 variants now […]