Lakeway mayor: Cases flattening for now, but masks are still essential

The Lake Travis area has begun to see a slight slowdown in new coronavirus cases just two weeks after the region experienced the largest spike in cases since the pandemic began in March.

This is according to a July 23 statement from Lakeway Mayor Sandy Cox, who has been updating the community on the ongoing pandemic through weekly Facebook Live broadcasts.

The area has added 68 new COVID-19 cases since last week, which brought the cumulative total to 350. Cox estimated about 150 of those cases could be considered active.

“We actually had a pretty large number increase last week and the week before, so this is good news,” Cox said. “If you look at the Austin data, ... you can see the data is starting to flatten out.”

Despite the more optimistic numbers, Cox noted coronavirus case numbers have historically changed at a rapid pace, in part due to a lag in test results.

With regard to testing, she said patients can see results anywhere from 24 hours to a couple of days depending on where the test was conducted.

As she has done in nearly every weekly update since they began more than two months ago, Cox urged residents to continue wearing masks.

“We need to figure out how to live with COVID-19,” Cox said. “Really, if we want to keep our businesses open and we want to do the things that we’ve done before, wearing a mask is literally the best line of defense for us.”