Coronavirus: WilCo Illness Count Grows To 612, No New Deaths

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TX — Seven more people were diagnosed with the coronavirus illness on Saturday over the past 24 hours, bringing the total illness count to 612. The fatality count remained unchanged at 24.

The latest figures cap off a week that saw three deaths from the respiratory illness recorded in the county. A man in his 60s died on Friday after contracting COVID-19, preceded by a man in his 70s the day before. A woman in her 80s died of the respiratory illness the previous Monday.

The statistics are compiled by Williamson County and Cities Health District officials on a dashboard now updated by 4:30 p.m. daily.

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Elevated rates of illness come against a backdrop of expanded business reopening across the state as Gov. Greg Abbott seeks to reignite an economy stalled by virus-spurred closures. This week, water parks were added to the list of business set to reopen to the public on Friday. Hours after the governor announced the new round of openings, Typhoon Texas officials announced they would be open on Friday at limited occupancy levels.

As part of the latest round of openings, Abbott also directed operators of food courts within shopping malls to restart and allowed for sports programs to resume.

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By gubernatorial proclamation, Abbott last month launched a multi-phased state economy reopening by first allowing operators of restaurants, malls and movie theaters to open their doors to the public again, albeit at limited occupancy levels, starting May 1.

View Texans Helping Texans: The Governor's Report to Open Texas.

Restaurant operators initially were allowed to reopen at 25 percent occupancy, a level later upped to 50 percent. In the next round of reopening, barbershops, nail salons, tanning booths, bowling alleys, bingo halls and other business were allowed to reopen.

Williamson County officials also have launched the gradual reopening of their offices, issuing a timeline into a phased reopening this week.

Williamson County health officials post the latest regional statistics related to coronavirus on a dashboard found here: www.wcchd.org/COVID-19/dashboard.php. Patch reached out to Williamson County and Cities Health District spokesperson Deb Strahler on Wednesday after noticing the dashboard had not been updated by midday, as is customary for the county. Patch learned the site now will be updated by around 4:30 each day "...to report the end of the day activity vs. prior day activity mid-day," Strahler wrote in an email.

Residents exhibiting symptoms of respiratory illness such as cough, fever, and shortness of breath, are highly urged to contact their health care providers. Health officials stress the importance of calling ahead before arriving at a clinic, urgent care, or emergency department to avoid potential spread of illness.

For information on the county response to COVID-19, go to www.wilco.org/COVID-19.