Austin Public Health is issuing the following statement regarding changes in new hospital admission numbers and how they're determined: 

The data for new hospital admissions per day has been adjusted today, July 7, to address discrepancies dating back to June 23 between the number of new admissions and the total increase in hospitalized individuals.

Previous data sets did not retroactively adjust new hospital admissions for patients who were admitted to the hospital but did not receive a positive COVID-19 test result until after their initial admission date. Our updated data corrects for these discrepancies, putting us at 74.9 for the 7-day moving average of new hospital admissions per day, which is reflected in the COVID-19 dashboard and the Key Indicators dashboard.

Utilizing the moving average of the new hospital admissions as the primary indicator, current Austin Public Health Risk-Based Guidelines recommend either Stage 4 or Stage 5 level of risk. The exact hospitalization trigger ranges from 70-123 new hospital admissions per day on the 7-day moving average, depending on the rate of increase. A more rapid increase in the daily average will trigger Stage 5 risk recommendations when the number reaches the lower end of this range.

We are currently evaluating the impact of passing the threshold of 70 as well as updated modeling and secondary indicators, such as doubling times of cases, hospitalizations, and ICU patients, to make a final determination of the stage of risk for the City of Austin and Travis County later this week.

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