Williamson County adds 54 confirmed cases of coronavirus Sept. 18

Williamson County added 54 confirmed coronavirus cases to its count Sept. 18, bringing the total number of cases to 8,385.

As of Sept. 18, eight patients are hospitalized, four are in intensive care units and seven are on a ventilator. The Williamson County and Cities Health District also reported 22% of hospital beds, 26% of ICU beds and 82% of ventilators are available.

The county did not report any additional deaths. The total is 137.

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

On Sept. 9, the WCCHD dashboard added a new feature that displays the county’s current spread level. The color-coded chart is designed to help residents understand the stages of risk and provide recommendations on what people should do to stay safe during the pandemic, according to the website.

Williamson County has remained at yellow, or moderate community spread. This means the county has seen a decline in cases over the past 14 days with no rebound; the confirmed case count has remained below seven cases per 100,000 residents for 14 days straight; and the testing positivity rate has stayed below 10% for 14 days straight.

The county has remained yellow since the feature was first displayed. For further details, click here.

While the county is deemed to be at a moderate spread level, WCCHD officials have recommended that residents take further precautions at a level above what is presented. For example, at the yellow level, officials recommend residents take the precautions listed in the orange level.

Of the total cases reported, 8,083 are estimated to have recovered, and there are an estimated 163 active cases. There are 194 total probable cases.

The current rolling seven-day positivity rate, or the rate at which tests return positive, is 2.28%, In a Sept. 15 note on the dashboard, the drop in the positivity rate is due to an influx of backlogged test results.

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.

Here is an update on total cases in the cities of residence, including probable cases, according to the WCCHD.

• Austin: 551
• Cedar Park: 840
• Georgetown: 1,502
• Hutto: 548
• Leander: 480
• Round Rock: 2,602
• Other: 1,041

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.

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.