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Travis County GOP fundraiser under investigation after complaint it violated COVID orders
26 August 2020
(Austonia)
Local officials are investigating a complaint that a fundraiser hosted by the Travis County GOP on Friday violated area pandemic orders.
The Ronald Reagan Gala was held at Star Hill Ranch in Bee Cave and attended by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and U.S. Reps Dan Crenshaw and Chip Roy.
The @TravisGOP is fired up to fight. To #StandUpForAmerica. To #KeepTexasRed. And to win! #TX21 https://t.co/BNIH2fg06c— Chip Roy (@Chip Roy)1598056599.0
Tex. Sen. Dawn Buckingham, who represents parts of Travis County, also attended the event as an honoree.
Thrilled to be at the @TravisGOP Reagan Gala this evening with so many #conservatives fighting to make sure… https://t.co/HINS15um8D— Dawn Buckingham (@Dawn Buckingham)1598057116.0
The Houston Chronicle reported on Wednesday that North Austin resident Kevin McKay filed a complaint after seeing photos of the event online that showed groups of people gathered and unmasked.
Travis County spokesperson Yoojin Cho confirmed to Austonia that the county is investigating the complaint and coordinating with the city of Bee Cave, which is within the county limits, to determine jurisdiction.
The county recently extended an order prohibiting gatherings of more than 10 people and requiring every person to wear a mask when in an outdoor public space and unable to social distance. The order authorizes the county sheriff's fire marshal's office to enforce it and allows for fines of up to $1,000
Travis County GOP Chair Matt Mackowiak told the Chronicle that social distancing was enforced at the event and attendees wore masks, except while eating, drinking and taking photos. "If social protests are acceptable, safe events like this should be also," he said in a statement to the paper.
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(St. David's Healthcare)
Due to shipping delays, allocations of the Pfizer vaccine scheduled to be distributed in Texas on Monday will now arrive on Tuesday.
<p>The Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed the delay in a statement shared with Austonia, explaining that "based on federal shipping schedules, vaccine ordered on Friday and expected to arrive today is now expected to arrive tomorrow, Jan. 19, based on the most current information from Pfizer and our federal partners." The delay impacted 55 of the 263 providers slated to receive vaccine doses this week.<br/></p><p>Eight providers in Travis County were allocated vaccines this week, but only one—UT Health Austin, the clinical arm of Dell Medical School—is impacted by the delayed Pfizer shipments. This is because the remaining seven providers, including Austin Public Health, will receive doses of the Moderna vaccine. </p><p>The city of San Antonio first reported the delays on Sunday, when it tweeted that all appointments planned for Monday would need to be rescheduled for Wednesday due to the delays. Bell County, which is north of Williamson County, encountered <a href="https://www.kwtx.com/2021/01/17/delivery-of-bell-county-covid-19-vaccine-delayed/" target="_blank">similar delays</a>. </p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c63222de857a7fd222b3d4fa89106a58" id="0d111"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1350966510513238018"><div style="margin:1em 0">1/2: The shipment of COVID-19 vaccines to supply scheduled appointments for Mon, Jan 18 has been delayed from the m… https://t.co/bnEWks8zOy</div> — City of San Antonio🧼+👐=💯 (@City of San Antonio🧼+👐=💯)<a href="https://twitter.com/COSAGOV/statuses/1350966510513238018">1610930490.0</a></blockquote></div><p>DSHS will allocate 333,650 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to 260 providers across Texas this week, with the bulk assigned to hub providers focused on widespread community distribution. </p><p>Austin Public Health, which was allocated 12,000 doses, and UT Health Austin, which was allocated 1,950, are the two hub providers in Travis County. An additional six providers were also included in this week's allocation, receiving between 100 and 200 doses apiece. A full list of recipients can be found <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-vaccine-allotments-week-six" target="_blank">here</a>. </p><p><br/></p><p><strong>More on the vaccine:</strong></p>
<h2><a href="https://austonia.com/austin-vaccine-waitlists" target="_self">Updated: Want to be added to a vaccine waitlist? Here's where to sign up</a></h2>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQzNTQ4OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNTkyOTEwNX0.ZI2_-g13hMZWhy_8avZdf2ojt57H1iLNeV8L_3wwiW8/img.jpg?width=980" id="e98ce" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2c52ed40658b69e66c40f1177e26a96a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Updated: Want to be added to a vaccine waitlist? Here's where to sign up
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(Austin Regional Clinic)
The Texas Department of State Health Services will allocate 333,650 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to 260 providers this week, with the bulk assigned to hub providers that are focused on widespread community distribution events. Eight of those providers are in Travis County.
<p>Austin Public Health and UT Health Austin, the clinical wing of Dell Medical School, have been designated hub providers by DSHS and will receive additional doses of the vaccine this week. An additional six providers in Travis County will receive smaller allocations of 100 to 200 doses. Those providers that have already received allocations and need to administer second doses will also receive corresponding allotments. </p><p>In total Travis County has received 73,175 doses of the vaccine, with 14,650 being sent to Travis County this week. Here's where the latest allotment is going: </p><ul class="ee-ul"><li>APH (12,000 doses)</li><li>UT Health Austin (1,950 doses)</li><li>Carousel Pediatrics Southbrook (100 doses)</li><li><span></span>CommUnity Care Rundberg (100 doses)</li><li>Lone Star Circle of Care at El Buen Samaritano (100 does)</li><li>Lone Star Circle of Care at Ben White Health Clinic (100 doses)</li><li>LSCC Family Care Center at Northwest (100 doses)</li><li>Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Travis County (200 doses)</li></ul><p> Although these providers may have doses to administer, many are limiting their supply to existing patient networks or reaching out to eligible candidates directly, rather than working through a waitlist system. View of list of providers with a waitlist <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-vaccine-waitlists" target="_blank">here</a>. </p>
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(Jordan Vonderhaar/The Texas Tribune)
By Sami Sparber
Texas-based anti-vaccine organization Informed Consent Action Network was among five anti-vaccine groups that collectively received more than $850,000 in federal loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, the Washington Post reported Monday. The organization received $166,000 in May 2020, according to founder Del Bigtree.
<p><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2020/12/23/texas-coronavirus-vaccine-skeptics/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">"Vaccine hesitancy" or "vaccine skepticism"</a> poses a significant and ongoing challenge for health authorities trying to overcome mistrust within communities of color, by the anti-vaccine crowd and general uncertainty nationwide. Doctors and scientists say the coronavirus vaccines currently available in the United States are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/18/briefing/donald-trump-pardon-phil-spector-coronavirus-deaths.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">safe and effective</a>.</p><p>"At a minimum, it's a mixed message from the government," said Timothy Callaghan, an assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health. "Those individuals who are hesitant are going to be looking to various pieces of information to help them make this decision...and if one of the key pieces of information coming out is the government funding anti-vaccine groups, it could send a signal to these individuals that maybe they shouldn't be vaccinating," he told The Texas Tribune.</p><p>The Austin-based nonprofit has more than 43,000 followers on Facebook and regularly posts information questioning the safety of the coronavirus vaccines. Bigtree's online anti-vaccine talk show was <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/covid-19-vaccines-face-varied-powerful-misinformation-movement-online-n1249378" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">penalized by Facebook and YouTube</a> last year for violating misinformation policies and downplaying the severity of the pandemic.</p><p>Facebook has cracked down on several of the groups that received the PPP loans, a spokesperson for the social network told the Post. Informed Consent Action Network's page, labeled with a link to Facebook's Coronavirus Information Center, is not being recommended to users by the company's algorithms, the Facebook spokesperson told the Post.</p><p>In an interview, Bigtree said his organization spent the funds on employees' salaries. "Just like everybody else, we were trying to keep employees employed instead of putting them on unemployment," Bigtree told The Tribune. He described the effect of Facebook's anti-misinformation efforts on his organization's content as "censorship" and a "dangerous" sign of the times.</p><p>Recent polling shows vaccine skepticism poses a public health threat in Texas, where Republican elected officials have largely echoed President Donald Trump's minimizing of the pandemic, said James Henson, head of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. An <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2020/10/13/coronavirus-vaccine-texas/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">October University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll</a> found that if a vaccine against the coronavirus became available at a low cost, 42% of Texas registered voters said they would try to get it and 36% said they wouldn't — a significant drop from the 59% who said in a <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/06/poll-texans-coronavirus/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">UT/Texas Politics Project poll in June</a> that they would get vaccinated against the disease.</p><p>That anti-vaccine groups received PPP funds "sticks out as being really at odds with public health, but the bigger problem here is that there has been a pronounced lack of consistent messaging on the safety, effectiveness and necessity of the vaccine from both national and statewide leaders, in particular Republicans," Henson said. "That's left a huge vacuum where there should be unambiguous messaging about the vaccine."</p><p>The five groups that received the loans are The National Vaccine Information Center, Mercola Com Health Resources LLC, Informed Consent Action Network, Children's Health Defense Co., and the Tenpenny Integrative Medical Center, according to the U.K.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate, the Post reported.</p>
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