The Austin Daily Drop

The decline in local COVID stats continues - demand for testing is waning as well - while a "subvariant of concern" gets the attention of researchers. The Tesla Gigafactory has started producing SUV's. Large brush and bulk collection services are suspended by the City due to staffing shortages. A reward is offered for a person who has been shooting deer in the Great Falls area with arrows. A panel...

A decline in our local COVID new hospitalization numbers hits six days, with UT's COVID-19 modeling consortium predicts hospital overload to begin to drop by mid-February and local health officials advising continued vigilance . Attorney Jose "Chito" Vela wins yesterday's special election outright and becomes the newest Member of the Austin City Council - which is set for a public hearing Thursday...

Local COVID numbers from the weekend show encouraging signs of an Omicron decline as local and statewide hospitals see what they hope is the beginning of the end of the wave. Six killings over the weekend have more than doubled Austin's homicide count for 2022. Longtime UT area restaurant and bakery Texas French Bread is heavily damaged by a fire. Today is Election Day in the special election to r...

Local COVID hospitalization rate saw a slight single-day drop on Friday, but hospitals remain crushed and positivity rates sky-high. FEMA is to step in locally to help with testing. Two downtown demonstrations over the weekend - one against abortion at the Capitol and one for stronger COVID precautions for Round Rock ISD at the Governor's Mansion. New Texas teachers are quitting after a single yea...

COVID stats remain near their recent record peak. Del Valle ISD cancels classes due to staff shortages today, Round Rock ISD students stage a walkout over pandemic policy, and Austin ISD teachers say a proposed scheduling change will degrade teaching performance. Amber Alert: a Buda teenager is missing since last night. If you've been wondering how the power grid is holding up in the cold, there's...

After hopes build for a lull, another spike is recorded in Austin's COVID hospitalization average. Pflugerville, Liberty Hill and Granger ISD's suspend school days due to staffing outages, and Austin ISD administrative staff pull double duty as substitute teachers. UT is to open a fourth testing center ahead of the return of fully live classes at the end of January. A significant Arctic front is a...

COVID numbers are still sky-high - a new local record for COVID hospitalizations has been set - but the Omicron wave may be beginning to stall. Local pharmacies begin receiving a new COVID treatment drug . Containment of a major wildfire near Bastrop appears to be improving, while Travis County issues a new burn ban in advance of an inbound windy cold front - which itself could test the Texas powe...

The MLK holiday creates a lag in COVID stat reporting, but Friday's count indicated a continued climb in numbers . New COVID safety signage rules for local businesses went into effect Monday. Hutto, Lago Vista and Johnson City ISD's delay the return to class after MLK weekend for its students. A petition-driven ballot initiative to decriminalize marijuana possession and outlaw no-knock warrants wi...

COVID counts continue rising as of Thursday night. Hospitals are under unprecedented strain, as are medical first responders . Austin ISD is closing three testing hubs due to a looming test shortage, while Round Rock ISD students threaten a walkout over that district's lack of remote options. Local health authorities issue new requirements for COVID policies to be posted publicly by businesses , a...

New COVID hospitalizations hit new single-day records both locally and statewide , but Austin's rolling weekly average - while still rising - seems to be losing steam . Marble Falls ISD will cancel classes this Friday due to staffing shortages. The annual MLK Day March has been cancelled out of pandemic caution, but two virtual events will happen this week, and the MLK Community Festival planned f...

COVID hospitalizations continue climbing , though hopefully beginning to slow. Researchers at UT predict a peak in new Omicron cases by the end of the month - but also that that peak may be triple that of last winter's spike. Dell Children's Hospital sees a trend of kids infected with both COVID and another virus simultaneously. AISD places limits on basketball game attendance . Music reacts too:...

Austin's COVID hospitalization rate has hit a new record high and shows no sign of slowing - however, new cases ARE slowing somewhat , leading to optimism about the medium term in spite of dire current conditions. The City has opened a new federally-funded program to help struggling local music professionals . Marijuana possession decriminalization in Austin will officially be on the November ball...

COVID stats continued tracking skyward as of Friday evening's numbers - hospitalization rate has risen past the peaks of both the first and third waves, over the summers of 2020 and 2021. Local school districts face staffing dilemmas caused both by teachers abandoning the profession altogether, and remaining staff suffering high degrees of COVID outages . Lines were long at AISD's vaccine clinic o...

Our local COVID related hospitalization average has surpassed the peak of the first pandemic wave of the summer of 2020. Complicating things, hospital, medical and first responder staffs are impacted with high sick outages. Same for teachers , with Austin, Leander and Lake Travis ISD's facing difficulty covering classes and student transit. Austin returns to Stage 5 precautions , but their dining...

Austin's COVID hospitalization average continues climbing steeply , and CTR is also in Stage 5 range. (Late edit: Austin is officially back at Stage 5 ). AISD schools see a drop in expected attendance on yesterday's first day back after the holiday. A free COVID testing site opens today at the Toney Burger Center, no appointments or insurance required. Health experts hope for a rapid fall in the O...

The Omicron COVID spike continues spiking higher into Stage 5 range - the City seems likely to officially raise our precaution level to Stage 5 from the current Stage 4 this week. One in three local tests are coming back positive, and greater numbers of vaccinated patients are ending up in the hospital - while vaccinations are still considered solid protection from severe cases. AISD kids return t...

Following the holiday reporting gap, COVID hospitalization numbers spike well into Stage 5 , climbing more steeply than any of the three prior pandemic waves, and both positive testing percentages and new case counts are spiking as well. Pfizer boosters are approved for ages 12-15 , and Jester King Brewery has a treat for folks over 21 seeking shots this weekend. COVID home tests, still hard to fi...

COVID numbers are skyward since the beginning of the holiday break - Austin has returned to Stage 4 precautions , testing remains difficult to find, and the State is pleading with the Biden Administration for help, all while Austin ISD plans to resume in-person classes on Wednesday. That sore throat or sniffle has you thinking Omicron, but it's just as likely due to cedar pollen . The Austin Monit...

COVID stats for Austin remain a mixed bag of dropping hospitalizations, but dramatically rising cases and infection rate, leading to fears of future swamping of hospitals . Both at-home and in person COVID testing resources come under strain in advance of Christmas weekend. A few more local restaurants and bars have voluntarily and temporarily shut down, though that list remains relatively short a...

Austin health officials make a slight tweak to our local COVID measurement scale , in which there's good news in a recent drop in daily hospitalizations , but bad news in a 95% spike in new cases and a new record-high CTR. The first U.S. Omicron death is recorded in Harris County - a great idea to get up to speed on vaccinations and boosters now. Franklin BBQ begins a week-long shutdown after a th...

UT Austin announces that it will require students to test for COVID infections in order to return from the winter break for the spring semester. Travis County Elections Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir reveals that she was targeted with criminal charges by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over the 2020 election. Details continue to emerge in the double murder case against Erik Charles Maund and his alleged...

UT Austin sees a major COVID new case spike , thought to be the beginning of the Omicron variant's arrival in Austin. A new research trial of a variant-modified Pfizer vaccine seeks unvaccinated participants - payment up to $800 - while Cheer Up Charlie's shuts down temporarily out of COVID precaution. UT's Dell Medical School launches a program for the research of typically-recreational psychedel...

As local COVID counts continue a recent uptick , stats over the entire pandemic show that the Austin area, and Travis County in particular, show lower than national average infection and fatality rates . A jury lands on a $67 million judgement against two APD officers in a wrongful death suit stemming from a 2017 shooting on Sixth Street. A positive Google review, apparently from Erik Charles Maun...

Daily average of new COVID hospitalizations hits a steady five-day rise, while local CRT continues rising as well. City and County officials extend pandemic mandates through June - new studies show only a 30% protection rate for current vaccines against infection, but better protection against severe disease. Austin Water is distributing meter keys and bib covers to help locals prepare for future...

A COVID spike may be underway as our local new hospitalization rate enters Stage 3 range for the first time since late October and both local and statewide CRT figures jump sharply as well - plus the first local Omicron cases , in three unrelated individuals among the University of Texas community, are detected. A scion of the Charles Maund auto dealership fortune is indicted in a murder-for-hire...