Coronavirus: Travis County Illness Count Grows To 642

AUSTIN, TX — The number of coronavirus cases in Travis County grew by 42 on Thursday, bringing the total to 642.

Austin Public Health updates the figures in a dashboard showing the latest available data. On the portal, officials noted 72 patients are currently hospitalized. To date, there have been seven fatalities from the COVID-19 virus that causes respiratory failure. Health officials note that 127 people have recovered from the illness after having gotten infected, according to the data.

The dashboard also breaks down illness levels per ZIP code. In the South Austin ZIP code of 78704, for example, there have been 38 cases so far. Among the greatest number of cases have emerged in the 78705 ZIP code — the area largely inhabited by University of Texas at Austin students, 211 of whom recently went on a spring break vacation to coastal Mexico en masse despite health officials' urgings on social distancing. Of those making the trip, 49 were diagnosed with the COVID-19 infection upon their return to Austin.

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The dashboard also breaks down illness counts by age groupings, gender and race/ethnicity. Across all age groups to date, 295 of patients have been female and 346 male. In terms of racial/ethnic breakdown, these are the percentages as of April 8:

• White: 54 percent
• Black: 8 percent.
• Hispanic: 33 percent.
• Asian: 5 percent.
• Other: 1 percent.

In neighboring Williamson County, health officials on Thursday reported six new coronavirus cases for an upgraded total of 103. Four deaths have been recorded in the county to date, where another 49 patients have recovered after having contracted the virus, according to health officials.

Related stories:

• Coronavirus: Travis County Illness Count Nears 600
• Coronavirus: Williamson County Illness Count Tops 100
  
• Coronavirus: Texas Illness Count Tops 10,000
  
• Coronavirus: 211 UT-Austin Students Took Trip, 49 Now Infected
  
• Coronavirus: Texas Illness Count Tops 10,000

Statewide, a mile grimstone was reached as health officials reported the illness count now exceeds 10,000. The number of cases grew by 877 on Thursday, briging the total to 10,230. Concurrently, health officials reported another 22 fatalities, bringing the number of deaths so far to 199.

The increase in cases came one day after the level of illness spiked to the biggest single-day uptick —topping the 9,000 mark with 9,353 confirmed cases statewide — on Wednesday. That day, the level of illness grew by 1,091 cases, according to Texas Department of State Health Services.