Coronavirus: 28 Returning Vacationers Test Positive In Austin

AUSTIN, TX — A large group of people returning to Austin from a spring break trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, is now being investigated as a coronavirus cluster after some of them tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, health officials said Tuesday.

Austin Public Health officials said a group of about 70 people in their 20s chartered a plane about a week and a half ago to spend their school break in Mexico. Some members of the group returned on separate commercial flights, health officials wrote in a news advisory.

Austin Public Health officials said 28 of the young adults on the trip have tested positive for COVID-19 and are now under self-isolation, with dozens more under investigation. Four of the confirmed cases did not present any symptoms, health officials added. Others are under quarantine while being monitored and tested, officials said.

According to the student-run campus newspaper The Daily Texan, some of the 28 patients are students at the University of Texas at Austin.

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Local health officials said they have notified the Department of State Health Services about the mass emergence of COVID-19 cases. While Mexico at the time of their travel was not under a federal travel advisory, health officials urged residents of Austin and Travis County to follow travel recommendations for travelers to avoid all nonessential international travel.

"A leisure vacation of any kind is not considered essential," Austin Public Health officials wrote in a statement. Officials also sought to dispel a mistaken notion that younger people are immune from the respiratory illness. Figures show nearly half of those testing positive for COVID-19 in Austin-Travis County are between the ages of 20 and 40, officials said.

“The virus often hides in the healthy and is given to those who are at grave risk of being hospitalized or dying," Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott said in a prepared statement. “While younger people have less risk for complications, they are not immune from severe illness and death from COVID-19.”

While COVID-19 appears to cause only mild illness for many people, it poses a significant danger to vulnerable populations, including older people and those who have underlying health conditions such as heart disease, immunodeficiency disease, diabetes and lung disease. Across the United States, people age 65 and over make up 45 percent of hospitalizations and 80 percent of deaths associated with COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For people who are young and healthy, the chief public health concern is the risk they will spread the virus to others, local health officials said. Officials noted that in Austin-Travis County, the number of people age 65 and over is estimated to be 132,000 — about 10 percent of the population.

"At the same time," health officials added, "it is also dangerously misguided for young and healthy individuals to believe that they won’t suffer severe symptoms if infected with COVID-19." They also said that as of March 16, 20 percent of all COVID-19-related hospitalizations in the United States were among people between the ages of 20 to 44.

Austin Public Health officials noted this local outbreak emerged well after the city of Austin and Travis County stepped up actions to protect those most susceptible to catching and being hospitalized from COVID-19 — including shelter-in-place orders, the mass closure of bars and restaurants, the banning of gatherings of more than 10 people and the temporary barring of access to city-owned recreational areas.

On Monday, officials announced a new Austin Public Health Task Force for Nursing Homes that is setting up nursing home isolation facilities to provide COVID-19 patients with a secure place to recover while keeping other nursing home residents and staff safe. Hospitals are currently restricting visitors and family members in the facility, officials added.

As a precaution in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, health officials urged residents to write down their medical information, including height, weight, current medications, allergies and medical history. Those with specific needs related to medical care are urged to write those down and discuss them with family members.

Austin Public Health is continuing to ask the wider community to take daily preventive actions to stop the spread of disease, including:

• Wash your hands.
• Cover sneezes and coughs with a bent elbow or tissue.
• Avoid touching your face.
• Stay home and save lives. Only go out for essential needs if you are well with no symptoms.
• If you are a caretaker, be sure to establish a plan in the event you are sick.

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