The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend that children over the age of 2 wear masks in child care settings. Regionally, Austin-Travis County s interim health authority Mark Escott has consistently said that masks prevent classroom spread of the coronavirus, and that most outbreaks in Austin-area schools have sprung from extracurricular activities where students went unmasked.
In a spring survey conducted by DSISD s COVID-19 Preparedness Team, 66.3% of parents said it should not be required for students under age 10 to wear masks for the rest of the school year, and 62.3% of parents said it should not be required for students over 10 to do so. However, a majority of teachers and staff differed on the subject: 54.6% said they would be uncomfortable or were unsure of their comfort level working at school if students over 10 were unmasked, and nearly 70% said they would be uncomfortable if children under 10 were unmasked.
On April 5, Austin Public Health expanded registration access for coronavirus vaccine appointments to include people age 40 and up and announced the agency s intention to expand access incrementally moving forward.
Texans age 16 and up became eligible to receive a vaccine March 29, with people ages 16-17 only allowed to receive Pfizer vaccine. APH has yet to open its supply to all eligible residents, however, and has said it will continue to prioritize vaccinations “by age and risk for severe disease” as it gradually expands access to the general public.
“APH will notify the public again when appointment scheduling expands beyond this group,” APH said in a statement.
Austin Public Health leaders say 85% of Travis County residents could be vaccinated within 12 weeks if the Texas Department of State Health Services ups APH s allocation to at least 24,000 doses per week.
The threshold APH is aiming for to establish herd immunity is 85%. While the World Health Organization says the exact threshold for establishing herd immunity to COVID-19 is uncertain, health experts including Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said it is likely in the 70%-90% range.
Since being named a regional vaccination hub early in 2021, APH has received 12,000 initial doses of Moderna s coronavirus vaccine per week. APH said on March 9 that it will take more than four months just to vaccinate the more than 200,000 qualified people already pregistered through its online portal. The organization is hopeful that larger allocations are on the way now that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is in circulation.
“Our model achieves the goal of getting shots in arms as soon as possible, and addresses some of the underlying equity challenges that have been present in vaccine distribution,” the letter said.
COTA is an ideal location to pilot a large-scale vaccination campaign, Brown said, because of its proximity to all four counties involved. The pilot event this weekend would especially serve school district employees from Travis, Caldwell, Hays and Bastrop counties that fall into Phase 1B of coronavirus vaccine distribution, including people over the age of 65 and those with certain high-risk health conditions. Appointments will be required; Brotherton said the counties would ask school districts to recommend qualified candidates.
However, Dr. Mark Escott, Austin-Travis County interim health authority, said broader distribution of the vaccine could be on the horizon with the approval of a new vaccine manufactured by Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. Johnson & Johnson published the results of its Phase 3 clinical trials Jan. 29, announcing a 72% protection rate in United States trials once 28 days have elapsed since vaccination. Within 50 days, protection rises to 100%, Escott said.
“There are lots of benefits to this vaccine in terms of the public health response,” he said. “Primarily, it s a single dose, which makes it a lot easier to get people effectively vaccinated, and it only requires refrigeration, so it makes it easier to get out.”