The seven day moving average of hospitalizations in the Austin-Travis County area has declined to 117 as of Jan. 24, compared to 129 on Jan. 19. That figure has not increased since Jan. 24.
“If you look at the hospital numbers, which are accurate, you're going to see a decrease or plateau in the hospital numbers,” said Dr. Desmar Walkes, Austin-Travis County Health Authority.
Walkes added that projections from the University of Texas have indicated the current surge could peak in early to mid-February.
Despite the decline, Walkes added that now is not the time for the community to relax efforts to prevent further spread of the virus.
“The important thing for us to remember is that we've been in this spot before where we've been on the decline and anticipating a quiet hiatus afterwards,” Walkes said. “What has happened when we start seeing these declines is that people start to relax their mitigation efforts, and there's a shying away from really getting out there and getting boosted and getting vaccinated.”
APH officials continue to point to boosters as an important tool for combatting the virus and the omicron variant, which accounts for 98% of community spread in the Travis County area. As of Jan. 25, APH had administered 2,525 booster doses in January.
