AUSTIN, Texas — COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are rising in Central Texas. With new variants circulating, data shows how the virus is looking in Austin.
"We're seeing these small increases in COVID outside of the respiratory virus season," said Dr. Scott Lindquist, a medical epidemiologist in Washington state, where the virus is swelling as well.
Although not close to what was seen in the first three years of the pandemic, hospitalizations are back on the rise.
The Texas Department of State Health Services shows in its most recent reporting week that there are more than 3,000 probable and confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state. Hospitalizations continue to rise too, with the CDC citing nearly a 35% increase in the last couple of weeks in Texas.
"Tested Wednesday, and it came up positive. And I'm like, 'That's great.' So, and then I started to have a fever," Alli Clarke of Round Rock said.
Clarke is one of the Central Texans dealing with this swell of COVID-19.
"Fever stuck around for probably like two-ish days. Two, three [days], fever broke and just kind of felt that body ache kind of the whole time," Clarke said.
She's not alone. A recent post in an Austin thread on the social media platform Reddit shows hundreds of local commenters who have also come down with the virus.
Clarke said she's had COVID-19 before, but this is definitely her worst experience with it.
"This is definitely the worst one. The others were more so survivable where I'm like, 'OK, I kind of feel bad, but it's bearable.' This was like, 'Oh man, I really need to take something.' This was very bad," Clarke said.
As always, doctors and other officials are urging anyone who feels sick to stay home and cover up with a high-quality mask.