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Decreasing from six available ICU beds for the 2.4 million Austin metro over the weekend, there are now only two available beds as of Monday evening, according to Austin Public Health Authority Dr. Desmar Walkes.
At a Travis County Commissioners Court meeting on Tuesday, Walkes gave an update on the dwindling 200-bed ICU capacity, which is seeing the least available beds compared to other major metros in the state.
Although other metros may seem to have more available beds such as the Dallas metro with 100 beds, transferring of patients is becoming increasingly difficult, she said. With a staffing shortage, talks of an alternative care center are limited and have not been acted on as of Tuesday.
Pediatric cases have been of particular concern, as this surge—being attributed to the Delta variant and spread among unvaccinated individuals—is affecting more children with the start of school around the corner.
The total COVID-19 caseload for kids has already surpassed the total for 2020. From March to December 2020, there were 7,019 confirmed cases in children; from January 2021 to date, there have been 7,438 confirmed cases.
Hospitalizations are also increasing in children. There were 12 kids in the ICU in July, compared to only one in June of this year.
The 12-17 age group is seeing the highest rate of admission into ICU and highest rate of transmission among those under 18 years of age. It is also the age group that is eligible for vaccines.
Health officials are asking that children wear a mask at school to mitigate the spread of the virus. On Monday, Austin ISD announced the district will require face masks for in-person learning starting this month in defiance of an executive order from Gov. Greg Abbott that bans mask mandates.
At Stage 5 level of COVID risk, Austin health officials are asking everyone, including those vaccinated to wear a mask. Walkes said masking is important due to the highly contagious nature of the Delta variant in the presymptomatic phase, meaning it can be spread before someone knows they have COVID.
"Everything that we can do to bend this curve downward is going to be important for our community, and particularly for our children," Walkes said. "Masking is important."
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(Tesla)
Giga Texas, the massive Tesla factory in southeast Travis County is getting even bigger.
The company filed with the city of Austin this week to expand its headquarters with a new 500,000-square-foot building. The permit application notes “GA 2 and 3 expansion,” which indicates the company will make two general assembly lines in the building.
More details about the plans for the building are unclear. The gigafactory has been focused on Model Y production since it opened in April, but the company is also aiming for Cybertruck production to kick off in mid-2023.
While there is room for expansion on the 3.3 square miles of land Tesla has, this move comes after CEO Elon Musk’s recent comments about the state of the economy and its impact on Tesla.
In a May interview with Tesla Owners Silicon Valley, Musk said the gigafactories in Berlin and Austin are “gigantic money furnaces” and said Giga Texas had manufactured only a small number of cars.
And in June, Musk sent a company wide email saying Tesla will be reducing salaried headcount by 10%, then later tweeted salaried headcount should be fairly flat.
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(Dullnig Ranch Sales)
You’ll have to leave city limits if you’re looking for a proper ranch property like 417 Acres Shipp Lake Ranch, aptly named for its acreage. The property comes built out with three farmhouses, one of which has bedrooms and two bathrooms and two of which have two bedrooms and one bathroom. The nearly untouched property, which surrounds the 100-plus-acre Shipp Lake, has remained in the same family since the early 1900s and gives you picturesque views for the making of a dream home. In fact, the previous owners ran a water ski camp on the property.
Sitting waterside on Lake Austin, this home gives you the unique opportunity to own a piece of the lush Hill Country with views of Mount Bonnell. The 2,750-square foot, three-bedroom, four-bathroom house allows you to integrate indoor and outdoor life with large windows opening to an outdoor living area. The crown jewel is the .76-acre parcel of land that tapers off to your own lakeside resort, featuring an covered outdoor kitchen, fire pit, stone boat house to store your water sports supplies and veranda sitting at the mouth of the water, perfect for an entertainer.
Got dreams of becoming a real Texas rancher? 7814 Brown Cemetery Rd. is the perfect place to start with 40 rolling acres of land and its very own swimming hole. Just east of Austin in Manor, the modest-on-the-outside home clocks at 4,412 square feet with five bedrooms and five-and-a-half bathrooms, but there are an additional two living structures on the property. The horseshoe-shaped pond sits in the heart of the property and comes equipped with a water slide, diving board and a fishing dock.