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The Williamson County Sun, September 29, 2021 7 1 Annual Percentage Rate. Actual rate may vary depending on credit qualifications. Rates and terms are subject to change without notice. This Auto Loan rate is applicable for the purchase of a new or used vehicle, or the refinance of an existing vehicle loan from another lender. New auto loan of $20,000 for 66 months at 1.90% APR will have a monthly payment of $319. 2 Austin Telco pays all standard closing costs for new Home Equity/HELOC loans below $150,000. These costs include: title search, flood determination, credit report, and county filing fees. Refinances of existing Austin Telco Home Equity/HELOC loans are subject to a $300 refinance fee. If necessary, additional fees for member requested appraisal, survey, and/or title company closing costs will be the responsibility of the borrower. Estimated costs will be disclosed upon receipt of application. Loans of $150,000 and above may require an appraisal, title policy, and title company closing costs at the member’s expense. Hazard insurance is required. All loans are subject to standard credit approval. Federally Insured by NCUA. Austin Telco NMLS #422857 512-302-5555 | www.atfcu.org | Free Checking Great rates for wherever the road takes you. New, Used, and Refinance as low as Up to 66 Months APR 1 5 Years Fixed APR 1 No Closing Costs 2 as low as By CHRISTOPHER DE LOS SANTOS The number of ICU beds avail- able in the area rose to double dig- its on Sunday – 17 – for the first time this month. The area’s number of ICU beds available had been less than 10 since September 1 due to the num- ber of Covid-19 patients needing ICU treatment. The Williamson County and Cities Health District continues to assess the county in “red phase,” indicating “uncontrolled commu- nity spread.” Other Covid indicators in the county have stagnated over the past week, according to data reported by the health district. Some indicators improved slight- ly, while others got slightly worse. Hospital resources The percentage of hospital re- sources devoted to Covid patients in Williamson and surrounding counties improved, dropping to 9.7 percent Sunday from around 11 percent Thursday. This was the first time this indicator had dropped below 10 percent since September 1. The percentage of hospital re- sources devoted to Covid patients is not reported by individual hos- pitals in Williamson County. Nor is the county percentage reported separately from Trauma Service Area O, which includes William- son and surrounding counties. Positive test rate The rolling seven-day average positive test rate rose, increasing to 11 percent Sunday from 9.4 per- cent Thursday. This rolling average has hov- ered between 12 percent and 9.4 percent since September 14. Sunday’s rate was around two- thirds of its highest-ever peak of 18.7 percent on September 2. How- ever, it is still about five to 11 times higher than where the county was in June, when the rate remained between 1 and 2 percent the ma- jority of the month. New infection rate The rate of new infections in the county reached 41.2 per 100,000 population Sunday. This is around half of its record high rate of 80.3 on September 1, and about 39 points higher than rates seen throughout June. Also, the rate of new infections in the county has hovered between 40 and 42 since September 21. New people infected with the virus averaged 241 per day over the last week. This is down from an average of 270 per day for the week ending September 19 and about half of the average new in- fections per day reported during the week ending September 4, which was 434. While the average daily number of new people infected continues to show improvement, last week’s daily average was about 18 times higher than the daily average in June, which was 13 people per day. Public health officials, hospital groups and physicians continue to call for vaccination, masking and social distancing to slow the spread of the virus locally. Vaccination rate Of the total population in the county, 57.8 percent of people have been fully vaccinated as of Sunday. Of people eligible for the vaccine, 78.4 percent have taken at least one dose. School trustees push for proactive messaging of Covid precautions in a reportable form, and is anecdotal and not official, she said. GISD’s dashboard can be viewed at www.georgetown- isd.org/coronavirus. At the September 20 board meeting, 10 speakers, parents and students advo- cated for either a masking requirement in schools, or for the district to advocate more strongly for volun- tary mask-wearing. Face- masks are optional in GISD schools. At recent board meetings and workshops, Ms. Maul- din has stated she believes the district should do more to encourage mask-wear- ing. She cited — as a missed opportunity to be proactive — the signs on schools’ front doors which say, “Masks are optional.” “How are these signs perceived?” she asked on September 20. “Does that mean people perceive the meaning as, ‘My health is optional?’” Trustee Stephanie Blanck concurred. “I understand they’re optional, but [the message on the sign] has a totally different connotation and meaning,” she said. “I applaud campuses that encourage masks. The sign could be stated differently. I feel for the teacher who feels they’re not being val- ued by the message of the Continued from 1 ICU availability rises despite new cases Wilco health district still assess uncontrolled community spread of Covid-19 Williamson County Covid-19 statistics Cases in 28 days 9,959 Deaths in 28 days 95 Total cases 71,820 Confirmed cases 61,820 Additional probable cases 10,606 Total deaths 634 Vaccinated: eligible (12 and up) Fully 69.22% Partially 78.42% Vaccinated: total population Fully 57.81% Partially 78.42% Hospital beds available 531 % hospital beds avail. 16% ICU beds available 17 % ICU beds avail. 3% GA-32 total TSA% 9.73% Phase RED Cases by city Georgetown 13,042 Round Rock 16,422 Hutto 4,695 Cedar Park 4,522 Leander 5,632 Austin (in Wilco) 5,818 Other towns 8,655 By age Cases Deaths Under 5 1,561 5 to 10 4,366 11 to 13 2,820 14 to 17 3,868 18 to 30 13,403 31 to 40 10,728 55 41 to 50 9,723 51 to 60 7,014 82 61 to 70 4,055 105 71 to 80 2,247 155 81 and over 1,429 237 Source: Williamson County Health Dept. Campus Enrollment Student cases Percent of students Staff cases Total cases Carver Elementary 727 34 4.67% 1 35 Cooper Elementary 596 24 4.02% 4 29 Ford Elementary 533 38 7.129% 1 39 Frost Elementary 350 20 5.71% 0 20 McCoy Elementary 486 40 8.23% 3 43 Mitchell Elementary 667 36 5.39% 4 40 Purl Elementary 598 16 2.67% 4 20 Village Elementary 447 21 4.69% 1 22 Williams Elementary 530 33 6.22% 3 36 Wolf Ranch Elementary 648 39 6.01% 6 46 Benold Middle School 724 44 6.07% 6 50 Forbes Middle School 647 38 5.87% 1 39 Tippit Middle School 575 23 4.0% 0 23 Wagner Middle School 845 48 5.6% 1 49 East View High School 2,076 102 4.9% 12 114 Georgetown High School 1,985 79 3.9% 7 86 Richarte High School 78 0 0% 1 1 Georgetown Alternative Pro- gram 9 0 0% 0 0 Wmsn. County Juvenile Services Education 2 0 0% 0 0 Other Facilities (Transportation, Support Ser- vices, Hammerlun Admin. Ctr., Technology Ctr., Distribution Ctr. NA 0 NA 28 28 TOTAL 12,527 as of 09/09/2021 637 83 720 2021-22 GISD cumulative Covid cases as of September 27, 2021 Source: GISD Covid Dashboard https://www.georgetownisd.org/coronavirus Wilco Commissioners approve capital projects for fiscal year • $300,000 on renovations to air handling equipment for the sheriff ’s office gym. Commissioners approved additional projects to be spent solely from the cap- ital projects fund, records show, since the county au- ditor said ARPA money would not be appropriate for these projects: • $1.1 million on redun- dant paging communica- tions equipment for fire and EMS; • $506,000 on renovations to sheriff ’s office training facilities; • $500,000 on additional rooms in the Justice Cen- ter; • $371,000 on additional generators for backup pow- er at county facilities; • $200,000 for repairs to the parking lot at the Emer- gency Services Operations Center. To complete a floodplain study, records show com- missioners also approved $850,000. Commissioners also vot- ed to put on hold for the next fiscal year remodelling of county annex buildings on Commerce Boulevard in Round Round as well as the Precinct 4 Justice Court in Taylor. Continued from 1 sign.” At the board workshop and meeting, Chief Strate- gist Courtney Acosta report- ed estimated mask-wearing by students and staff, as compiled on September 9 from principals’ anecdotal data. Estimates included a wide range of possibilities shown in the table on Page 1. “We know that masking is highly situationally and personally-dependent, and it’s very difficult to pin- point,” Ms. Acosta said. “We’re absolutely giving people the right to choose whether or not they’re wearing a mask.” Covid cases and clusters GISD’ Covid protocols require the district to track elevated numbers, i.e. “clus- ters” in cohorts — such as a classroom, athletic team, or club. If Covid cases in a co- hort exceed a rate of 15-25 percent, the district will — at the elementary lev- el — send a letter to notify parents, specify addition- al strategies used to limit spread, remind them of the option to quarantine and, if their children develop Covid symptoms, to keep their children home. Ms. Brasher confirmed Friday that classrooms at Carver and Ford elementa- ry schools have reached the 15-25 percent threshold and parents have received these letters informing them of that fact. Ms. Acosta said that the district is not seeing that cluster rate of 15-25 percent at high schools. On Monday, GISD’s Covid Dashboard showed a cumu- lative total for the school year of 716 cases — 632 stu- dents and 83 staff.
