Travis County confirmed 302 new COVID-19 cases July 22, almost even to the the county's seven-day moving average of 303.7 new cases per day. Austin Public Health also reported 58 new admissions of coronavirus patients in the Austin metropolitan area.

These updates are the latest in a string of yo-yoing daily case numbers, from 145 to 630 to 302 in the past three days. However, earlier in the day, Austin-Travis County Health Authority Mark Escott said the overall downward trend of cases since July 13 is reason to be cautiously optimistic.

"I think the case numbers are really going down," Escott said during a July 22 press conference, noting that there was still work to do in order to see a lasting improvement.

Travis County has seen 18,696 cases throughout the course of the pandemic. There are 453 patients currently hospitalized in the Austin metro, with 160 of them in intensive care units. Also, 222 Travis County residents have died from coronavirus complications.