Austin, Texas – Mar. 13, 2021, marks the one-year anniversary of the first COVID-19 case in Austin-Travis County. Local cases have soared since then, with 77,231 confirmed cases as of Mar. 11. Since the first case, drive-thru, neighborhood, and in-home testing operations were activated, and free testing continues to be provided. The Austin-Travis County Emergency Operations Center has also hosted numerous personal protective equipment distribution events in underserved communities, stood-up COVID-19 hotel facilities for people to isolate safely and protective lodges for our most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness, and opened an alternate care site as cases and hospitalizations surged across our community.

While simultaneously responding to COVID-19 case investigations and hospitalizations, the City and County are operating multiple vaccination sites, with the capacity to vaccinate more than 37,000 people every week.

“We are in a better place than we were only a few weeks ago, but we are not out of the woods yet,” said Stephanie Hayden-Howard, Austin Public Health (APH) Director. “Austin and Travis County residents have been incredible in stepping up the call to protect their loved ones, their neighbors, and the community through every day preventative actions – and those actions must continue until we get to a place of herd immunity.”

APH urges the community to continue wearing a mask, watching your distance, and washing your hands so we can avoid another surge in cases and work toward a return to normalcy as more people become vaccinated over the coming weeks and months.

"Looking at the events around the world and what was happening this time last year, it seemed clear that this was going to be a major and unprecedented event,” said Dr. Mark Escott, Interim Austin-Travis County Health Authority. “What I didn't fully appreciate was the duration of that event. When we look at the impact of disasters, we are usually talking about days to weeks -- we're not talking about months to years.”

Dr. Escott added: “The COVID-19 pandemic really is an unusual event and I think it’s one we can expect more often in the future as our global population rises and urbanization increases. We have to learn the lessons, we have to invest in public health infrastructure, and our command and control infrastructure so we can be better prepared in the future."

For additional COVID-19 information and updates, visit www.AustinTexas.gov/COVID19.