This is according to a July 9 statement from Lakeway Mayor Sandy Cox, who has been updating the community on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic through weekly Facebook Live broadcasts.
Cox said the region saw an increase of 75 confirmed coronavirus cases since the previous broadcast July 2, which brought the cumulative total past 200.
“We’ve had a total of 219 cases since we started tracking this number in our area,” Cox stated. “We believe [about] 122 are active."
Cox partially attributed the spike to a statewide increase in testing but expressed concern regarding recent hospitalization and ventilator rates, which she said have increased in recent months.
Per Austin Public Health’s July 9 data, there are 440 individuals in Austin hospitalized due to the coronavirus, 91 of whom have been placed on ventilators.
“For a point of reference, back in the early May-June time frame, we were running about 80 to 90 for the hospitalization number,” Cox said.
It is unclear how many of those hospitalizations pertain to the Lake Travis region, according to Cox, who confirmed the only data city officials have received is the number of cases per ZIP code. Lakeway staff have been assessing approximate active cases by calculating ratios based on the overall number.
The city of Lakeway operates without a local health unit, a tool Cox said could aid the community amid the pandemic.
“However, what I will say is ... City Council had a discussion this week about whether we should bring up a health unit in our area,” Cox said, “We still have work to do on that.”
Council tabled this discussion during a July 6 meeting with an agreement to reconvene the conversation in the future.
