AUSTIN, Texas — Austin-Travis County has reached a grim milestone during the COVID-19 pandemic: More than 1,000 people in the community have died from the coronavirus.
August was the most deadly month we have seen since vaccines rolled out in January.
On Sept. 8, Austin Public Health reported 23 new deaths, which pushed Austin and Travis County over the more than 1,000 threshold.
Leaders say our best tool of defense right now is vaccination and wearing masks.
In Travis County, the Texas Department of Health Services said about 32% of eligible people are still not fully vaccinated.
Austin Public Health said nearly all people dying from COVID-19 are unvaccinated.
As of Sept. 8 in Travis County, there were 654 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Of that number, 240 adults were in the ICU and 14 kids were hospitalized.
GRAPHS: Coronavirus data Sept. 8, 2021
Austin Mayor Steve Adler sent a message to the community after the milestone was reached.
"This is a tight community; many of you reading this probably know someone who has died, and I'm sorry for your loss," he tweeted. "We have been in this together a long time, we will honor them with you. And we will stay in this together to save as many lives as we can from this devastating virus."
The City of Austin said the ages of the 1,000-plus people who died in Travis County range from 20 to 80 years old.
Most deaths were among those over 60, but health officials say the delta variant is leading to a trend of children and younger people being hospitalized and put on life support.
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