Austin Public Health does away with local COVID stages, aligns guidelines with CDC

Forget reaching Stage 1 of the COVID-19 pandemic — or Stages 5, 4, 3 and 2 for that matter.

Austin Public Health, the health authority for Austin and Travis County, on Tuesday created new risk-based COVID-19 guidelines that now align with ones the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention set last month.

“We continue to adapt our response as we enter a new phase of this pandemic.” said Dr. Desmar Walkes, Austin-Travis County health authority, in a statement Tuesday. “While we enjoy the progress we’ve made, we should remember that this isn’t over yet; the potential for new variants still poses a threat.”

In both the CDC and Austin Public Health's new guidelines, our COVID-19 situation is categorized into low, medium and high levels of disease.

The CDC guidelines are based on the level of disease spread and hospital resources, set on a county-by-county basis. They also are based on personal risk factors.

The new Austin Public Health guidelines are now using CDC's community levels metrics.

On Tuesday, the Austin area had 42 people hospitalized with COVID-19, an uptick from 41 on Monday. The seven-day average for new hospitalizations continued to be seven. The transmission rate was 55.7 cases per 100,000 people on Monday with a testing positivity rate of 6.1%. All of which puts us in the CDC's low category for disease level.

Last week, Austin Public health lifted all COVID-19 orders because of our low transmission rates.

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What are the new Austin Public Health guidelines?

Austin Public Health divides its guidelines into two types of people:

• People up-to-date in their COVID-19 vaccines (fully vaccinated and boosted, if they qualify for a first booster, or now a second booster if they are 50 or older).

• People who are at risk because of their personal health situations or not being up-to-date in their vaccines.

Precautions include wearing a well-fitting mask, washing hands and practicing social distancing.

For people up-to-date with their COVID-19 vaccines:

Low: Taking precautions is optional when gathering, dining and shopping.

Medium: Precautions are optional when gathering, dining and shopping. But wear a mask when social distancing is not possible.

High: Use precautions when gathering, dining and shopping.

For people who are at risk:

Low: Precautions are optional when gathering, dining and shopping.

Medium: Use precautions when gathering, dining and shopping.

High: Use precautions when gathering, dining and shopping.

Understanding the CDC levels

At cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/covid-by-county.html, you can plug in your state and county and see what the level is. The levels are also indicated on a map with green representing low, yellow for medium and orange high.

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Travis, Williamson, Hays and Bastrop counties are all low right now.

The CDC is looking at three things:

New COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days. That is considered the transmission rate. If there are 200 or more new cases per 100,000 people, your county is automatically in the medium or high level.

Percentage of COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 people in the past seven days. If there are fewer than 200 cases per 100,000, your county can be in the low level if it has fewer than 10 new COVID-19 hospital admissions. It'll be in the medium level if there are between 10 and 19.9 new admissions and in the high level for 20 or more. If it has 200 or more cases per 100,000 people, your county is in the medium range with fewer than 10 admissions and in the high range at 10 or more.

Percentage of staffed hospital beds taken by people with COVID-19 over the past seven days. With fewer than 200 new cases per 100,000 people, your county can be in the low category with less than 10% of beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, in the medium category between 10% and 14.9%, and in the high category for 15% or more of the beds taken by COVID-19 patients. If it has 200 or more cases per 100,000 people, it'll be in the medium category at less than 10% and in the high category if 10% or more of the beds are taken by COVID-19 patients.

The level is determined by whatever indicator puts you at the highest level.

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Need to get a vaccination?

Vaccines are available for free at any local pharmacy for ages 5 and older. The FDA on Tuesday just approved a second booster shot for people 50 and older, four months after their second booster. The first booster should be given five months after the second vaccine for mRNA vaccines like Pfizer's and Moderna's and two months after the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Austin Public Health has a walk-in clinic at the old Sims Elementary Gymnasium, 1203 Springdale Road, 2-7 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays.

You can also go to vaccines.gov to find your nearest location.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin Public Health gets rid of COVID stages, aligns with CDC