Austin-Travis County Moves Back To Stage 4 Of Risk-Based Guidelines

Austin, Texas – Tuesday, Feb. 9, the City of Austin and Travis County leaders announced a move to Stage 4 of the Austin Public Health (APH)?COVID-19 Risk-Based Guidelines. 

Stage 4 recommendations include the following: 

• Higher-risk individuals (those over the age of 65 and those who have chronic medical conditions) should stay home, except for essential trips such as buying groceries or seeking medical care. 
• Lower-risk individuals should avoid social gatherings, any gatherings greater than 10 people, and non-essential travel.? 
• Businesses and restaurants voluntarily operate at a reduced capacity of 25-50%.  
• Schools voluntarily limit attendance at sporting events to players, coaches, and parents. 

The Risk-Based Guidelines are not changes to local Orders and Rules or regulations for businesses; they are guidelines for individual actions and behaviors based on levels of risk of exposure in the community.

The risk level recommendations are different for those who are at higher risk for severe complications and death from COVID-19. 

While APH monitors the 7-day moving average of COVID-19 new hospital admissions as the primary key indicator for the Risk-Based Guidelines, additional key indicators, including positivity rate, the doubling time of new cases and current ICU and ventilator patients, are monitored to determine the current staging.

All of these indicators are moving in the right direction.

Additionally, modeling provided by the University of Texas also indicates an improving COVID-19 situation in the community.