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This is not Austin's "Pearl Harbor" week, the mayor said. (Charlie L. Harper III)
Local officials announced on Wednesday a "surge plan"—what to do if health facilities are overwhelmed—and offered more information about quarantine facilities, hospital capacity, social distancing efforts and measures to further "flatten the curve" in Austin.
The press conference was the city's first since March 30, and it addressed a number of questions reporters and residents alike have been asking about the pandemic at our doorsteps and, for some, in our homes.
What is the scale of the coronavirus outbreak in Austin?
As of Tuesday evening, there were 545 confirmed cases, 77 hospitalizations and 28 individuals on ventilators, Dr. Escott said. These numbers will be updated regularly on the city's website.
Though U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said on Sunday that this would be the country's "Pearl Harbor"week with respect to the impact of the coronavirus, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said the city's peak caseload will depend on how successfully residents observe social distancing and personal hygiene recommendations, including washing hands and wearing masks when out in public. Data indicates Travis County residents have reduced nonessential activity by 64%, County Judge Sarah Eckhardt said, which is helping to slow the virus' spread and allow the city time to prepare.
Updated modeling from the University of Texas at Austin, released yesterday, shows that even a 75% reduction in contact will lead to a caseload peak that exceeds local hospital capacity.
"Let's keep staying home and working safe," Eckhardt said. "We are saving lives."
What is the ventilator capacity in Austin?
There are "about 755" ventilators in our five-county region, Dr. Escott said.
Additionally, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin are building a new ventilator model made of cheap, widely available resources to help meet patient needs during this pandemic. The device uses a manual resuscitator and a windshield wiper motor pulled from a Toyota Camry to automatically compress the bag to deliver oxygen to the patient. Once the research team vets its prototype, it plans to produce at least 2,000 ventilators and make the design free to duplicate.
"This is why we have to continue this effort of stay-home-and-work-safe as long as we can," Dr. Escott said. "All these things are critical for us so we can prolong that peak as long as we can, so we can get that testing in place; we can get that [personal protective equipment] in place; we can get the equipment in place."
The city announced a "surge plan." What is that?
The three-stage surge plan announced yesterday is designed to address patient care needs should coronavirus cases overwhelm the hospital system serving Travis, Williamson, Bastrop, Caldwell and Hays counties.
The first stage involves increasing the capacity of area hospitals, such as adding a second bed to single rooms and converting anesthesia machines to serve as ventilators, Dr. Escott said. This brings the total area hospital bed capacity to around 4,300. Currently, area hospitals are operating at around 50% capacity, according to a press release issued by the city earlier today.
In the second stage, "Type 2" facilities—such as outpatient surgical centers and former hospital buildings—serving 50-100 people will open to care for patients that hospitals cannot accommodate. So far, the city has identified six such facilities, but staff have not named them.
In the last stage, the city will open "Type 1" facilities, large venues that can be converted to care for low-acuity patients, such as those who need an IV or supplemental oxygen. These facilities have also not been named, and Dr. Escott said local and state officials and health care providers are working to determine staffing models.
If Austin reaches the last stage, hospitals will be overwhelmed, which means their staff members will not be available to help in Type 1 facilities. One option being considered, Dr. Escott said, is to pull health care professionals from other areas, such as physicians in private practice, non-hospital-based nurses, and paramedics.
What is going on with hotels and homelessness?
On Thursday, Austin City Council will authorize three lease agreements—totalling more than $3.5 million—with area hotels for use as emergency housing and isolation space. The properties are the Crown Plaza Hotel at I-35 and Hwy. 290, the La Quinta Inn at I-35 and Hwy. 71, and the Motel 6 at I-35 and Hwy. 183. Each lease is for a 60-day term with an option to extend for two additional 30-day terms.
Occupancy is down as much as 95% at area hotels, according to a presentation by local economics strategy firm TXP at City Council's Tuesday work session. And across the state, nearly 269,000 jobs supporting the total hotel industry have been lost due to this pandemic, per the American Hotel and Lodging Association.
The three hotels will serve as isolation and protective lodging facilities and will be staffed by a combination of hotel employees and city and county employees, who are helping to coordinate social services and psychiatric support for those who need it.
Isolation facilities will serve anyone who tests positive for the coronavirus.
"They're comfortable facilities," said Dr. Escott, who encouraged people with the virus to stay in hotels to prevent exposing family members and roommates.
Protective lodging facilities serve those at high-risk for complications, such as the homeless.
Around two dozen people are staying in hotels for these purposes, Dr. Escott said.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler said he is hopeful this housing remains available to homeless residents long after the pandemic has been contained.
"That's consistent with the approach that we were trying to bring on [before coronavirus]," Adler said, referring to the city's purchase of a hotel in Southeast Austin last year. "My expectation is that we won't go back to where we were before."
Is testing capacity improving?
While Travis County still doesn't have enough tests, the supply has increased significantly, Eckhradt said.
As soon as this week, area hospitals may begin using a new rapid test machine from Abbott Laboratories, Dr. Escott said, which will help physicians make timelier decisions about who requires hospitalization.
Additionally, antibody tests are now available, and local officials are working to determine the best way to deploy them. The simple blood test helps identify individuals who have been exposed to the virus and have developed antibodies to fight it off. While the test doesn't help indicate if an individual is contagious, it does provide more information about immunity, Dr. Escott said.
How are the local Stay Home-Work Safe orders being enforced?
Although the orders allow for violators to be fined or jailed, Adler said success depends on Austinites' sense of social responsibility.
"We will not be able to enforce our way to the level of compliance that we need," he said. "At the end of the day we're going to have to be enforcing this by agreement between each other."
Let us know what else you'd like us to find out, and how you're handling the crisis. Take our coronavirus survey.
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Popular
(The White House/Instagram)
President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act into law on Tuesday, a move that the White House says will unlock hundreds of billions more in semiconductor investment across the country.
Part of that investment could make waves in Central Texas, where semiconductor companies have laid the groundwork for more plants and jobs as a global shortage of semiconductors continues.
For example, Samsung already had a $17 billion semiconductor factory in Taylor on the way. Then in July, documents filed with the state showed that the tech giant is considering 11 chipmaking facilities in the Austin area that it’d build over the next two decades. The proposed $192.1 billion investment would bring more than 10,000 jobs.
\u201cThe CHIPS Act will supercharge our efforts to make semiconductors here in America. It will make cars, appliances, and computers cheaper and lower the costs of everyday goods. And, it will create high-paying manufacturing jobs across the country.\u201d— Joe Biden (@Joe Biden) 1659828240
Micron Technology is another giant that could make a multi-billion regional investment.
At the start of the year, Micron Technology was reportedly considering a new plant in neighboring Caldwell and Williamson counties, though California, North Carolina and Arizona were also being reviewed as potential sites for the plant.
On Tuesday, Micron announced plans to invest $40 billion between now and 2030 for chip manufacturing in the U.S.
In a public video statement, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra noted how semiconductors are essential to many tools that are a part of everyday life such as computers, smartphones and cars.
“Today is a proud moment for the global Micron team and a strong step forward for American high tech manufacturing leadership,” Mehrotra said. The company said specific plans for the investment will be made available in the coming weeks.
\u201cToday, we announced plans to invest $40 billion in the U.S. through the end of the decade to build leading-edge memory #manufacturing. Our investment will create 40k American jobs and strengthen U.S. supply chains. Watch this space! #jobs #innovation https://t.co/WPePuDVJs6\u201d— Micron Technology (@Micron Technology) 1660050842
Recently, the city has made efforts to train Austin residents for the kind of roles companies like Micron and Samsung would try to fill. A couple of months ago, the city announced a “hire local” plan with Workforce Solutions to help people in fields like manufacturing and information technology get training to move up in their careers.
The bipartisan bill includes $52 billion in semiconductor subsidies. Nationwide, these incentives could create thousands of jobs and multiple fabs, the Semiconductor Industry Association estimates. Some of that could happen in the Austin area from companies looking to expand.
NXP Semiconductors is weighing a $2.6 billion expansion and Infineon Technologies is looking at a $700 million expansion. Respectively, those two could add 800 and 100 jobs.
Central Texas has a reputation as a major hub for semiconductors, and the competition with other areas could ramp up in the coming years as others like Qualcomm and Intel consider new facilities. Dallas-based Texas Instruments also celebrated the passing of the CHIPS Act.
“TI has an exciting manufacturing investment roadmap and these provisions will be meaningful to the development of our 300-mm water fabs in Texas and Utah,” the company said in a Tuesday Twitter post.
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(Compass)
It’s slowly but surely becoming easier to buy a house in Austin.
According to the Austin Board of Realtors, the median house price in the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area is $537,475 as of July. Take a look at what that price range can get you.
This two-story brick home is the biggest on the list, with four bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms across 2,156 square feet in Round Rock. Characterized by its sky-high ceilings, large windows and newly updated fixtures, the home has a spacious backyard with mature trees, a wooden deck, a lounge area and close proximity to a nearby greenbelt.
This listing is held by Drew Griffin with Compass.
This recently updated three-bedroom, two-bathroom home was built in 1983 but fits in perfectly with the design standards of today. On top of newly-updated floors, roof and windows, this home comes complete with a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace, a spacious open floor plan and plenty of natural light. The biggest gem of this house is its vaulted and covered back patio, which gives way to a large backyard on a corner lot. At 1,280 square feet, the home is just a few minutes away from The Domain and Q2 Stadium.
This listing is held by Jennifer Buterick and Nicole Marburger with Compass.
Another retro find, this 2,098-square foot home has character to go around and is looking for a caretaker who will love it as much as the last. With four bedrooms and two bathrooms, the house has plenty of room for a home office and is colorfully painted throughout, including bright blue kitchen cabinets. On a third of an acre, this home comes with 12 fruiting trees in the backyard, solar panels, rain-catching barrels and a converted garage with living space.
This listing is held by Niki Duncan with Compass.
This three-bedroom, two-bathroom South Austin home has a wide-open floor plan and sparkling white interiors. The vaulted ceiling in the living room gives height to the room while the fireplace will keep you warm. An airy master suite comes with double pedestal sinks and two walk-in closets, so you don’t have to worry about sharing space with your partner. Enjoy the Texas weather with a private yard, screened-in porch, and fire pit.
This listing is held by Michelle Hendrix and Khani Zulu with Compass.
A retro-on-the-outside, single-story home was built in 1973 but has been given a full modern update on the inside. The three-bedroom, two-bathroom, 1,676-square foot home is situated on a half acre of land, complete with an above-ground pool and covered porch to keep you shady during the oppressive heat. Inside, you’ll walk directly into an open living and dining area, which features a floor-to-ceiling tiled fireplace, that leads to the breakfast nook, and kitchen with mosaic-tiled backsplash and a built-in wine rack.
This listing is held by Derek Peterson with Compass.