Austin extends 'Stay Home, Work Safe' order through mid-August

AUSTIN, Texas (KTRK) -- The City of Austin and Travis County are expanding their Stay Home, Work Safe orders through August after the area surpassed 20 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per day.

Residents were directed to continue practicing social distancing, hygiene, and face-covering behaviors under the new order adopted Monday, June 15.

The new order expires on August 15.

"COVID-19 remains a public health emergency. While services and businesses begin to reopen, medical and scientific experts agree that doing so presents a risk to public health and increased community spread of COVID-19," officials stated in the order. "People should not be in groups larger than 10 people and should maintain social distancing from those not in their group."

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Outdoor events in groups of more than 10 people outside of the same household are prohibited.

The extended order comes as Travis County moves out of stage 3 and into stage 4 alert in their fight against coronavirus.

Higher-risk individuals, including those over the age of 65 and those with chronic medical conditions, are asked to avoid social gatherings and any gatherings of more than two people. They're also asked to avoid non-essential travel, shopping and dining.

Recently, the number of new COVID-19 cases reported per day in Austin-Travis County jumped into the triple digits, with 147 new cases recorded on June 14.

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"Our numbers in Austin are geometrically increasing. At the rate we are going now, more people will get sick and will die than if we wore masks and stayed six feet apart," Mayor Steve Adler said. "We each need to pause, think deeply and then decide what is important to us. We will demonstrate what we value by how we act."

County leaders want to remind the public to continue to be vigilant and practice good hygiene, physical and social distancing, and wear face coverings to prevent the disease from spreading and help keep each other safe.

The city's order also states, while Austin is declared to be in a stage 4 alert, all businesses and operations reopened under the governor's executive orders are strongly encouraged to operate at a capacity less than otherwise permitted to make it more feasible for customers and staff to maintain proper social distancing within their establishment.

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