Claire Osborn|Austin American-Statesman
Major Texas cities, including Austin, will receive tens ofthousands of coronavirus vaccine dosesthis week, as health providers continue to inoculatevulnerable populations.
Meanwhile, Central Texas' continuously high COVID-19 hospitalization rates triggeredbusinesses on Sunday to roll back their occupancy rates from 75% to 50%. Elective surgeries have also been canceled.
“It is critically important that everyone follow protective measures at this time,” said Stephanie Hayden, Austin Public Health Director, in a news release Sunday. “Wearing a mask, washing your hands, watching your distance, and avoiding gatherings have been lifesaving measures throughout this pandemic. We will not be able to vaccinate or enforce our way out of the surge already happening, so we need to take it upon ourselves to protect our community.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will ship first doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 234 providers in 104Texas countiesthis week. The providers include 28 hubs focusing on large community vaccination efforts, according to a press release from the Texas Department of State Health Services.
People eligible for the vaccines include health care workers,people 65 and older and those with medical conditions that put them at greater risk of hospitalization and death from coronavirus.The vaccine hubsare listed below by county, along with the number of doses they are set to receive:
Bexar County
Bell County Public Health District, 3,900
San Antonio Metro Health District, 9,000
University Health System,10,725
Brazos CountySt. Joseph College Station Hospital,1,200
Cameron CountyCameron County Public Health, 6,000
Dallas County
Dallas County Health and Human Services, 6,000
Parkland Hospital, 6,825
UT Southwestern Medical Center 10,000
Denton CountyDenton County Public Health, 3,500
El Paso County
El Paso Fire Department, 5,000
University Medical Center of El Paso 5,000
Harris County
Harris County Public Health, 8,000
Houston Health Department,8,000
Houston Methodist Hospital, 10,725
Hidalgo County
Doctors Hospital at Renaissance, 6,500
Hidalgo County Health and Human Services, 5,000
Lubbock CountyCity of Lubbock Health Department, 5,000
Maverick CountyFort Duncan Regional Medical Center, 1,200
McLennan County
Waco-McLennan County Public Health District, 1,500
Ascension Providence Hospital, 1,500
Nueces CountyCorpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health District, 4,000
Potter CountyAmarillo Public Health Department, 5,000
Smith County
Northeast Texas Public Health District, 1,500
UT Health Science Center Tyler, 1,500
Tarrant CountyTarrant County Public Health, 9,000
Travis CountyAustin Public Health, 12,000
Webb CountyCity of Laredo Health Department, 1,200
Austin Public Health will be receiving 12,000 first doses from the shipment. As of Sunday, the agency did not yet have a signup list for the vaccines, said spokeswoman Alina Carnahan. Austin Public Health willfirst provide vaccines to uninsured and underinsured people who are healthcare workers or ages 65 and up.
"Vaccine remains limited based on the capacity of the manufacturers to produce it, so it will take time for Texas to receive enough vaccine for all the people in the priority populations who want to be vaccinated," according to the release.
Austin Public Health will workwith community partners, including Austin Regional Clinic and Lonestar Circle of Care,to find the people who qualify, Carnahan said. Austin Regional Clinic officials have said on theirwebsite that they will notify high-risk patients when it is their turn to receive the vaccine.
None of the hubs that will be receiving vaccine dosesthis week are located in Williamson, Hays or Bastrop counties, according to the release, but Austin Public Health is expected to provide vaccines to those outside of Travis County. Other hubs will also provide vaccines to their neighboring areas.
The 12,000 doses are among 158,825first doses being sent to hub providers this week, the release said. The number of doses is based on the number of people that each hub provider estimated it could serve in a week.
An additional 38,300 doses will target other communities statewide, the release said.Texas providers will also receive about 500,000 doses intended as the second dose for people first vaccinated a few weeks ago, the release said.
Vaccines have been administered to residents of all 254 Texas counties, the release said.
The latest information from the Texas Department of State Health Services shows 687,846 Texans have received their first dose of coronavirus vaccine and 64,788 Texans have gotten their second dose.
In Travis County, 30,313 people have gotten their first vaccine dose and 2,138 have received their second dose. Williamson County figures show that 13,769 people have gotten their first dose, including 124 whohave gotten their second dose. In Hays County 4,785 people have already received their first dose with 137 of them getting their second shot.
The state of Texas will also reserve another121,875 vaccine doses for the federalPharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Careprogram, the release said. The programpartners with pharmacies to provide on-site coronavirus vaccinationsfor residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
The vaccinesthat the state is reservingfor the partnership arethe first doses the state has been required to set aside, "freeing up that much more vaccine to be shipped to providers each week in the future," the release said.
About half of the vaccine dosesavailable this week will be theModerna type and the other half will be the Pfizer brand, said Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the Department of State Health Services.
The supply is expected to increase in the coming months, and additional vaccines are in clinical trials and may be authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. People can find more information on COVID-19 vaccine athttps://bit.ly/2K02XSa.
The vaccines come as Texas and its major cities are experiencing surges of the disease, consequences of gatherings over the holidays. Travis County on Saturday reportedrecord high hospitalizations of 586. Active cases in the county were more than 6,000.
Rising hospitalization rates for the coronvavirus triggered a governor's order on Sundayfor Central Texas businessesto rollback their occupancy rates from 75% to 50%. The rising rates also triggered the cancellation of elective surgeries in the area, according to a letter from the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The order affects Williamson, Travis, Bastrop and Hayscounties. It also includes Llano, Lee, San Saba, Caldwell, Fayette, Burnet and Blanco counties. The 11 counties are in Texas Trauma Service Area O.
Mark Escott, interim Austin-Travis County health authority, said in a news release on Sunday that the reduction of business occupancies haven't curbed the rise in other cities, advising people to do more to socially distance themselves. He said even under 50% business occupancy, Dallas/Fort Worth's hospitalization rate is at 27%, San Antonio at 22%, and Houston at almost 20% and all three continue to rise.
"We need every person in this community to understand that exceeding our hospital capacity is now inevitable, but how far we exceed that capacity depends on all of us," Escott said. "Today is the day to decide to stay home and reduce risk to save our hospitals and save lives.”
The rollback in Central Texas was triggered because an order by Gov. Greg Abbott requires such restrictionswhenthe coronavirus hospitalizations exceed 15% of the totalhospital capacity for seven days in a row in a trauma service area.
The Central Texas service area was at 15.25% on Jan. 3, 17.83% on Monday, 18.85% on Tuesday, and 17.38% on Wednesday, according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services. It reached 16.67% on Thursday, 17% on Friday and 18.87% on Saturday, according to state data.
Williamson County does not provide coronavirus figures on weekends, but it recorded 233 new cases and had 162 people in the hospital on Friday.
Texas reported 12,954 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday and 186 new deaths.
