AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Despite recent downward trends in COVID-19 cases in Travis County, local health officials fear things are starting to flatten out.
Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott gave his weekly update to Travis County Commissioners Tuesday. He said an aggressive decline has plateaued, and in the last few days, has started to trend back upwards.
"This makes us concerned that we are no longer heading in a good direction. We’re flattening out," Escott said.
Escott did say that area hospitals have moved out of their surge protocols when it comes to ICU beds. The number of ICU patients and total patients hospitalized have both been trending downward in the past few days.
Despite the improvement in the hospitalization numbers, Austin Public Health will remain at Stage 4 for now.
"When communities relax too soon it results in a bounce of cases and a repeat surge," Escott said.