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Emma Freer
Emma Freer is a senior reporter for Austonia, where she covers the local pandemic response, policy, Project Connect and homelessness. She previously worked for Community Impact Newspaper. A native Clevelander, she graduated from Columbia Journalism School in 2017 and the University of St. Andrews in 2016. Email: emma@austonia.com. Twitter: @freer_emma.
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The Texas Department of State Health Services will allocate 332,750 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to 212 providers this week, with the bulk assigned to hub providers that are focused on widespread community distribution events. Six of those providers are in Travis County.
With the latest allocation of 16,450 sent to Travis County this week, the county will have received 104,275 doses of the vaccine. Local public health officials estimate that there are 285,000 area residents who fall in the 1A and 1B priority groups, meaning that around 37% of them should have access to doses seven weeks into the rollout process.
Here's where the latest allotment is going:
<ul class="ee-ul"><li>APH (12,000 doses)</li><li>UT Health Austin (1,950 doses)</li><li>CommUnity Care David Powell Clinic (100 doses)</li><li>DSHS Central Pharmacy Warehouse (2,200 doses)</li><li>Texas Department of Public Safety (100 doses)</li><li>CommUnity Care Del Valle (100 doses)</li></ul><div>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 a list of providers with a waitlist <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-vaccine-waitlists" target="_self">here</a>.<br/></div><p>The DSHS Pharmacy does not serve the general public.</p>
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Austin may soon be home to a tech plant that would dwarf the Tesla Gigafactory in both investment and job creation.
Samsung Electronics Co. is considering starting construction on a $10 billion memory chip plant in Austin as soon as this year, Bloomberg reported Friday.
<p>The Samsung plant would compete with industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which is scheduled to begin construction on a $12 billion semiconductor factory in Phoenix <a href="https://azbigmedia.com/real-estate/taiwan-semiconductor-launches-38b-phoenix-presence-by-signing-major-lease/#:~:text=Taiwan%20Semiconductor%20Manufacturing%20Company%20is,to%20begin%20production%20by%202024." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">later this year</a>. </p><p>Samsung is capitalizing on a federal effort to draw advanced manufacturing plants away from Asia, Bloomberg reported. </p><p>Samsung Austin Semiconductor LLC purchased roughly 258 acres of land in Northeast Austin in late October, near its existing chip manufacturing plant. Last month, Austin City Council approved a rezoning request from the company to allow for industrial use. </p><p>"The proposed (zoning) agreement will reflect almost the same conditions approved on the current Samsung Austin Semiconductor site," Case Manager Sherri Sirwaitis wrote in <a href="https://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=351517" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a staff report</a> submitted to the council. </p><p>Samsung opened its first Austin plant in 1997 and has since expanded its campus, which now spans roughly 300 acres and employs around 3,000 people, <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2021/01/22/austin-could-be-home-to-10b-samsung-plant.amp.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">according to the Austin Business Journal</a>. </p><p>The company also has a long history of working with state and local governments on tax incentive deals. Between 2009 and 2019, Travis County rebated Samsung $65 million as part of an ongoing incentives agreement. </p><p>One of the people close to the matter told Bloomberg that the company may go ahead without such an incentives agreement. But the Travis County Commissioners Court is scheduled to consider whether to accept an application for an economic incentive agreement on Tuesday. A spokesperson would not say which company has filed the application—nicknamed "Project Silicon Silver." </p><p>Travis County commissioners last considered an unnamed economic incentives agreement application in May 2020, which was later revealed to have been filed by Tesla. They later approved a multimillion-dollar incentives agreement for the electric automaker, which is currently building a $1.1 billion Gigafactory in Southeast Travis County. </p><p>In response to criticism regarding the agreement, Travis County commissioners voted unanimously <a href="https://austonia.com/travis-county-incentives" target="_self">last month</a> to amend its economic incentives policy to include community input requirements. As a result, if commissioners vote to accept the Project Silicon Silver application, the court will be required to post draft agreements publicly and host public hearings before taking action on any incentive agreement. </p>
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With an extremely limited vaccine supply, Austin Public Health is now focusing its distribution events on individuals who are 65 years of age or older, public health officials said Friday.
"We have more than 129,000 of (people in this category)," APH Director Stephanie Hayden-Howard said Friday, adding Austin residents who do not fall into this demographic group to be patient.
<p>APH has received 25,300 doses of the COVID vaccine from the state since the federal rollout began in mid-December, with the vast majority of those doses arriving in the last two weeks. Austin Public Health has administered 18,427 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine—or around 73% of its total supply—to community members as of Thursday.<br/></p><p>Despite the bumpiness of the rollout—which has been mired by mixed messages, tech glitches and limited supply—Austinites may start to see the benefits of mass vaccination among the elderly. The area could see deaths and hospitalizations decrease, as the virus has the most severe symptoms for those individuals. </p><p>"As we gain herd immunity within those age groups, we start to see the threat of overwhelming our healthcare system dissipate very quickly," Escott said, adding that by March or April the metro could reasonably vaccinate the 70% of people 65 years of age needed to achieve herd immunity in that group.</p><p>However, APH is constrained by the number of vaccines it is allocated by the state—and a lack of lead time. The Texas Department of State Health Services typically announces its weekly allocations on Sunday, which means that providers such as APH cannot schedule appointments or set up distribution events more than a few days in advance. <br/></p><p>"Is it frustrating? Yes." Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott said of this process. "Mostly because there's not enough." </p><p>People in that age group can sign up for APH's<a href="https://austonia.com/aph-vaccine-portal" target="_self"> pre-registration system</a>. As its vaccine supply is replenished, it will alert those on the list about available appointments.</p><p>In the meantime, Escott offered the advice he has given to his parents and in-laws: "Sign up for whatever list you can sign up for," he said. "Because it's not clear who's getting vaccines next week and who's not."</p><p>Readers can find area vaccine waitlists <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-vaccine-waitlists" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
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Amid the possibilities that Austin voters could reinstate the city's camping ban and the implementation of a statewide ban, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said the current plan is failing.
Austin City Council repealed the camping ban in 2019, after advocates said it criminalized homelessness. Adler told the Austin American-Statesman on Thursday that the approach "is not working," but added that going back to the previous ban also didn't address the city's homelessness issues.
<p>Save Austin Now, a local campaign led by Travis County GOP Chairman Matt Mackowiak, submitted more than 24,000 signatures to the city clerk's office on Tuesday in support of a petition to reinstate the camping ban. If validated, it will be included on the May 1 ballot, where Austin voted will determine the ban's fate.</p>
<p>The group previously attempted to get the same petition included on the Nov. 3 ballot, but the city clerk ruled their submissions were invalid due to duplicate signatures and other problems. </p>
<p>Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has been a vocal critic of the City Council's decision to overturn the camping ban, said he will soon announce a statewide plan to address homeslessness, including a ban on public camping, during a press conference on Thursday. </p>
<p>Abbott called Austin "the front door for the state of Texas" and said such a ban is important for the city's appeal to visitors. </p>
<p>Austin City Council overturned the city's ban on public sitting, panhandling, lying and camping in August 2019. Although a majority of council members and many advocates supported the decision, it prompted intense pushback. Local business owners, the Austin Police Association and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott criticized the decision,which they said risked public health and safety.</p>
<p>Council members revisited the issue in late 2019 and voted to limit where camping is allowed, banning it from sidewalks, near houses and homeless shelters, and outside of businesses during operating hours.</p>
<p>But the policy has maintained its lightning rod status.</p>
<p>Windsor Park resident and former Libertarian candidate for the Texas House Kevin Ludlow posted a video showing the homeless encampment behind his home <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-homeless-problem-camp" target="_self">last August</a>, where it was viewed tens of thousands of times. Although the city sent a crew to clean it up, Ludlow said it as only <a href="https://austonia.com/windsor-park-homeless-camp-returns" target="_self">a short-term fix</a>.</p><p>More recently, former Council Member Jimmy Flannigan, who supported overturning the camping ban, lost in a runoff to now-Council Member Mackenzie Kelly, who <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-city-council-runoff-results" target="_self">opposed the decision</a>. </p>
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