Updated Jan. 18 at 10:26 a.m.
Williamson County added 582 new coronavirus cases Jan. 15, bringing the total to 26,265 cases, according to a Williamson County and Cities Health District report.
The county also added 10 deaths. The total is 254.
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.
Due to rapid changes in hospital surge resources and the inability to ensure the accuracy of self-reported local-level hospital data on capacity, the WCCHD dashboard changed its reporting to reflect hospital usage from the Trauma Service Area O, which includes Williamson County and 10 other counties.
In TSA O, there are 591 coronavirus hospital beds available, or 15% of total beds, and 43 ICU beds available, or 8% of total beds, it said.
On Jan. 11, Williamson County announced a rollback in businesses' permitted occupancy levels from 75% to 50% and a pause to all elective surgeries as hospitalizations continue to increase. The rollback occurred because COVID-19 patients had made up more than 15% of the total hospital capacity in the Central Texas region for seven consecutive days.
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, 24,013 are estimated to have recovered, and there are an estimated 1,998 active cases. There are 3,531 total probable cases.
The current rolling seven-day positivity rate, or the rate at which tests for the coronavirus return positive, is 15.61%.
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: 1,943
- Cedar Park: 2,600
- Georgetown: 5,501
- Hutto: 1,876
- Leander: 2,041
- Round Rock: 7,120
- Other: 3,524
Here is a breakdown of deaths by city, according to the WCCHD.
- Austin: 11
- Cedar Park: 39
- Georgetown: 58
- Other: 49
- Round Rock: 97
