Austin Public Health invokes highest COVID risk factor

8 days after moving to Stage 4, day after Mac reported 41 cases, county returns to Stage 5

Morgan Eye, staff reporterJanuary 6, 2022Leave a Comment

More Coverage of COVID on campus

Cafeteria tables sit empty at lunch after Austin Public Health declared that Austin-Travis County had returned to a Stage 5 risk factor.

Tide begins going out on recent omicron wave

As a school bus drives by on Sunshine Drive delivering students to campus for the first day of the spring semester this morning, AISD students and their parent wait outside the McCallum Art Center on the third day of AISD's districtwide antigen COVID testing program. According to the district, 14.5 percent of the tests at all 11 sites came back positive on the first two days of testing.

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During Pink Week, Mac held its first pep rally of the year and its first pep rally since before the pandemic. But things looked a little different this time, instead of being in the gym, the pep rally was held outside.

Drop in COVID risk factor brings pep rallies back to Mac

Students flood the hallways on the first day of school. With 1,829 students and a main building capacity of 1,596, students find themselves in close quarters.

Open transfers make Mac popular—and crowded

The administration expressed general satisfaction with the way that students have responded to the mask mandate enforced by AISD, While some students have needed reminders about how to wear a mask properly and when to change to a new mask, most students are following the policy well, according to assistant principal Andy Baxa.

Mask mandate mostly met at Mac

A crowded scene from Austin City Limits in 2019. This year's ACL will most likely look different. Senior Lila Plummer is relieved that mask and vaccine mandates are in place. "I got [the tickets] before, but I had the idea that it wasn’t 100% that I would be able to go, especially with the Delta cases being so bad right when I bought them,” Plummer said. “But now with the precautions and cases seeming to get a little bit better, I do feel more comfortable and happy about that, because I worried I was gonna have to sell them.”

The limits of Austin City Limits

Facility nursing manager Candice Pleasant works as a supervisor to faculty, nursing staff and more. At the start of COVID, emergency facilities had to adapt to the lack of access to ICU. “We have to transfer them or we have to do a video consultation,” Pleasant said. “Not only do we not have those resources, we don’t even have them at our disposal anymore. It’s hard to even get in touch with those doctors. It’s hard to transfer patients. We are left to not only be their advocate, but to be every single person's specialty for that patient.”

Pandemic provides no rest for the weary

Seniors Gage Sanchez and Wynter Winston lead a discussion group as part of the sophomore orientation held on Wednesday, Aug. 4.

AISD reinstates mask mandate effective today

Senior Bobbie Currie and his PALS peers were masked up in the MAC as they spoke to sophomores and new juniors and seniors at the afternoon orientation session on Wednesday, August 4.

Texas students face mask issue without compulsory policy

Dave Winter

The eye test of the crowds in the cafeteria and the courtyards at lunch today made it seem like more students stayed home from school today, but principal Nicole Griffith said that attendance today was down 40 from Wednesday’s opening day, and 38 girls soccer players were out for a soccer tournament, accounting for most of that drop.

Only eight days following the move to Stage 4 COVID-19 protocols, Austin-Travis County Health officials have bumped the city up to Stage 5 due to the surge in cases and hospitalization rates.

“The omicron variant is overwhelming our community, and it’s starting to take its toll on our hospitals,” Austin-Travis County Health Authority Dr. Desmar Wakes said in a press release today. “We all must do what we can to protect each other and our hospital systems, or else the situation will reach dire levels that no one wants to consider.”

According to the press release, 95 new hospital admissions raised the seven-day average hospitalization rate to 74. The community transmission rate has reached 1,067, and the positivity rate is now 29% among tested Travis County residents.

Stage 5 protocols advise that fully vaccinated and/or boosted individuals wear masks outside their homes. Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated individuals and those who need their booster dose are advised against gathering or traveling outside the home unless necessary. All individuals are encouraged to opt for take-out dining and curbside shopping.

“All around us, we are seeing more and more people getting the omicron variant, and we know the risk of infection has increased,” Mayor Steve Adler said. “It is now more important than ever to mask everywhere as our best chance to keep our hospitals staffed and our businesses open with healthy employees.”

Yesterday, an email was sent out to families by the McCallum administration confirming 41 positive cases from Dec. 21 through 4:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. Previously, McCallum had only reported 58 cases for the entire fall semester.

We were at Stage 5 last August too. Wear two masks, get vaccinated and boosted, and get tested by the school nurse. We know how to keep classrooms safe because we’ve all been doing it together all year long. We’ve got this, Austin.

— Dr. Stephanie S. Elizalde (@AustinISDsupt) January 6, 2022

People can find vaccine providers using  vaccines.gov (vacunas.gov in Spanish) or by texting their zip code to 438829 (822862 in Spanish) to find a nearby clinic.

APH clinics offer COVID-19 vaccinations and testing without appointment, but creating an account online in advance saves time. COVID-19 vaccinations are free and require neither identification nor insurance. For more information and to schedule an appointment, call 3-1-1 or 512-974-2000 or visit www.AustinTexas.gov/COVID19.