Round Rock 4th Of July Parades, Pool Party Nixed Over Coronavirus

ROUND ROCK, TX — The City of Round Rock has canceled its planned Fourth of July parades and a related pool party over worries about continual spread of the coronavirus, officials said Tuesday.

Earlier this month, the city announced its plans for a scaled-down parade that would split the route into three portions to ensure some measures of physical distancing. Plans called for a small number of city vehicles — fire trucks and the like — to honor health care workers and first responders who have been on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. Residents had been encouraged to enjoy the parade from their front yards.

But as the illness trend continues to rise, even those modified plans proved irreconcilable to the tactics of physical distancing seen as effective tactics in helping to blunt the spread of coronavirus, officials said.

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“While the parade is one of my favorite events in Round Rock, canceling this year’s scaled-down version is the right thing to do for public health,” City Manager Laurie Hadley said in a prepared statement.

The Rock’N River July 4th Pool Party has also been canceled, city officials announced. Residents who purchased a ticket for the Pool Party will be issued a credit or refund in the coming weeks, officials added.

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The growing spread of coronavirus has heightened worries about further infection, promtping the Round Rock City Council to pass an emergency ordinance requring residents to wear protective face coverings in public settings where physical distancing is not possible to achieve.

The newly mandated mask requirement comes amid soaring rates statewide of the contagious illness for which there is no vaccine. Also on Monday, Williamson County and Cities Health District officials reported an 81-patient increase in the number of regional coronavirus cases, bringing the historical total to 2,100. In addition, two more people died of the illness from the previous day.

A man in his 40s and another man in his 80s were the latest victims succumbing to the respiratory illness, officials said on Monday. The two fatalities follow the death of another man in his 40s reported on Sunday, and the dath of two elderly patients the previous Friday. The recent deaths bring to historical fatality count in Williamson County to 37.

According to a statistical dashboard maintained by county health officials, Round Rock has the highest concentration of illness — by far — in Williamson County. The data show there are 409 open cases of the illness in Round Rock, which is trailed by Georgetown with 227 active cases.