Note: The Williamson County and Cities Health District will not release daily coronavirus cases Dec. 23-27. An update will be available Dec. 28.

Williamson County reported an additional 558 confirmed coronavirus cases Dec. 22 and six backlogged cases, bringing the total number of cases since March to 18,568, according to the Williamson County and Cities Health District daily report.

This is the highest one-day total number of new cases not caused by the backlog the county has reported, according to the WCCHD. The previous highest number reported was 351 on Dec. 19, data shows.

According to the Dec. 22 report, there are 96 patients hospitalized, 35 in intensive care units and 14 on ventilators. The WCCHD also reported 23% of hospital beds, 8% of ICU beds and 74% of ventilators are available.

The death total remains 194.


Counted deaths are of those who have COVID-19 listed as a direct cause of death on the death certificate. The total does not include deaths of people who had COVID-19 but died of an unrelated cause, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services dashboard. This method may delay reporting by weeks or even months due to paperwork, county health officials have said.

Williamson County continues to sit at the red level for coronavirus transmission risk. This is characterized by uncontrolled community spread, according to the WCCHD.

Of the total cases reported, 16,892 are estimated to have recovered, and there are an estimated 1,482 active cases. There are 2,056 total probable cases.

The current rolling seven-day positivity rate, or the rate at which tests for the coronavirus return positive, is at 11.44%, which continues to rise.


Recoveries are not reported to the state’s contact tracing and data system; therefore, recovery information is not absolute and is to be used for estimating purposes only, according to the WCCHD website. No trends or other inferences should be drawn from this data, as the numbers posted represent a point-in-time snapshot and may fluctuate throughout the day, it said.

Total cases by cities of residence, including probable cases, according to the WCCHD, are as follows.
  • Austin: 1,353
  • Cedar Park: 1,863
  • Georgetown: 3,730
  • Hutto: 1,284
  • Leander: 1,374
  • Round Rock: 5,212
  • Other: 2,542
If the WCCHD is unable to confirm the city of residence after three attempts, the case is deemed “lost to follow-up” and is not included in the above count, officials said.

Here is a breakdown of deaths by city, according to the WCCHD.
  • Cedar Park: 27
  • Georgetown: 39
  • Not specified: 12
  • Other: 33
  • Round Rock: 83
Officials said the county is not legally able to release the specific counts in cities with fewer than 20,000 residents. For more information, such as gender and age breakdowns, visit the county's dashboard.