AUSTIN, Texas — A total of 333 confirmed positive cases of the coronavirus in Travis County so far in 2021 have been from fully vaccinated individuals. Austin Public Health Medical Director Dr. Desmar Walkes said this shows just how important vaccinations are at a Travis County Commissioners Court meeting Tuesday.
APH is reporting 3,021,150 positive cases of the virus in Texas since the start of the pandemic. These “vaccine breakthrough cases” account for .011% of those.
The Texas Department of State Health Services defines a vaccine breakthrough case as one where COVID-19 is detected in an individual over 14 days after receiving all recommended doses of an FDA-authorized vaccine.
At least 31 fully vaccinated Texans have died from COVID-19, according to data from DSHS earlier this month.
Walkes said that the rising COVID-19 case numbers in Austin are concerning. APH reported 85 new cases of the virus Monday, July 12, over double the number of cases reported on Tuesday, July 6.
In answering a question posed by Travis County Commissioner Precinct 2 Brigid Shea, Dr. Walkes explained the doubling.
"We've gone an average of 30 cases, new cases a day, and when we say 30 new cases, I'm talking about overall, as opposed to now we're at 63 cases a day as of yesterday," she said.
APH said the delta variant is prompting a “reassessment of the minimum threshold for herd immunity” as the positivity rate in Austin increased to 4.3% last week.
But Dr. Walkes said APH has not received any reports of the delta variant, even though at least one surrounding county has.
Over 70% of Travis County residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Just over 60% of eligible residents are fully vaccinated, according to DSHS.
So far, 1,000,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been given out in Travis County.
The coronavirus vaccine became available to all adults in Texas on March 29.
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