May God bless our troops.
The Coronavirus
Worldwide, Russia reports a large uptick in new cases and deaths. Israel is suffering a surge, despite achieving a high vaccination rate early on; experts say this points to vaccine efficacy fading with time. Iran is having its worst surge yet. Malaysia is battling a massive jump in cases, blamed on a low vaccination rate; responding to public anger over mismanagement of the crisis, the Prime Minister and his entire Cabinet resigned. Japan’s surge has worsened, with ICUs in Tokyo full. Australia, with a record number of new cases, extended its Sydney lockdown and curfew another month. In the Philippines, Manila’s lockdown has also been extended; Manila’s largest hospital closed its ER last week due to the entire facility being overwhelmed with Covid cases. Long-term surges in many African countries seem to be plateauing.
In the US, we are now averaging over 150,000 new cases per day. More than 98,000 Americans are now hospitalized with Covid, and the death rate averages over 1,200 people per day. In the last 2 weeks, US cases have increased 21%, hospitalizations are up 28%, and deaths are up 95%. While stats are all still climbing, the rate is slowing for new cases and hospitalizations.
On Aug. 26, nearly 100K people were hospitalized for Covid, a level not seen since early January–before vaccinations were available. Over 95% of patients are unvaccinated. Nearly all the cases are caused by the Delta variant.
US hospitals are increasingly overwhelmed. Currently, 25% of all ICUs nationwide are full. Florida last week had more cases, hospitalizations and deaths THAN EVER BEFORE IN THE PANDEMIC. Residents of Orlando and other areas were asked to stop watering lawns and conserve water; the liquid oxygen that some purification systems use is now needed by hospitals. Mississippi’s surge continues; the state’s hub hospital in Jackson opened its SECOND tent facility in a garage, to provide more ICU beds for Covid patients. Hospitals throughout the south have buckled—in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and more—swamped with far more Covid patients than staff can handle and therefore unable to care for accident victims, stroke/heart attack patients or the chronically ill that habitually occupy hospital beds. Refrigerated trucks are being used in Florida, Alabama and Texas to store corpses until overwhelmed funeral homes can take them.
Two weeks after the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in S. Dakota, which featured 700K visiting bikers (the majority defiantly unmasked and unvaccinated), active Covid cases in the state jumped 450% since early August. In that time, the positive test rate increased from 10% to 40%. Looks like Sturgis 2021 was a super-spreader event, just like Sturgis 2020 was.
More companies are delaying workers coming back to the office, due to the surge. PWC bumped its return date to November. Charles Schwab and Apple employees won’t return to the office until 2022. NYC’s planned re-opening has been stunted by Delta; IBM temporarily closed its NYC offices, many other businesses have delayed re-opening, trade shows and other big events are being cancelled, and tourism remains scant.
Illinois now has a state-wide mask mandate for indoor public places. Boston is requiring masks indoors in public places. On the other hand, Tennessee’s Republican governor ordered that parents can opt out of school mask mandates. This is despite the state having its highest surge of cases since January and being very poorly vaccinated.
The war over mask mandates in school has a new participant—the federal Department of Education. With bans on masks in school existing in 8 states (Florida, Texas, Arizona, Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah–all now hosting Covid surges), Pres. Biden announced Aug. 18 that the federal education agency would treat mask bans as a bar to students’ right to a safe education, triggering its civil rights enforcement authority. In addition, Pres. Biden pleaded with certain red-state governors to put the safety and uninterrupted education of kids ahead of their own political gain, noting that federal funds are available to pay any fines or lost salaries by school districts for requiring masks against state law.
In Texas, we are averaging 16K new cases and 184 deaths daily. As of now, there are 14K Texans hospitalized for Covid-19. The current positivity test rate is 16%. In the last 2 weeks, cases have increased 17%, hospitalizations are up 27%, and deaths are up 110%. As with national numbers, the stats are still climbing but not as steeply as in early August.
Gov. Abbott tested positive on Aug. 17, the day after attending an indoor mask-free fund-raising event. He got infected despite his advantages of daily Covid testing and having had THREE vaccination shots; he also started monoclonal antibody therapy immediately, despite saying he was asymptomatic.
Rice University in Houston delayed its fall start date and moved all classes online for at least 2 weeks. University of Texas responded to Covid cases on campus and the state’s ban on mask mandates by giving professors permission to move classes online for the first part of the semester; hundreds of faculty, staff and graduate students have signed petitions demanding mask and vaccine mandates.
The number of nursing homes with at least 1 Covid case among residents or staff has shot up nearly 800% in the past month. Roughly 76% of nursing home residents in Texas are fully vaccinated against the virus, but only 56% of nursing home staff members are fully vaccinated.
The school mask mandate wars in Texas are increasingly confusing, with school districts and local judges issuing mask rules faster than GOP-controlled courts can strike them down. As of now, Texas Education Agency (TEA) is not enforcing Abbott’s mask mandate ban due to all the pending court challenges; TEA is encouraging school boards to consult local authorities in deciding what to do and REQUIRING notice to parents of any positive COVID test in a classroom or extracurricular activity. Texas Supreme Court temporarily allows school mask mandates to remain 8/19/21https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/19/texas-drops-mask-mandate-ban-schools-506339
The National Rifle Association cancelled its annual meeting, scheduled for early September in Houston, due to the Covid surge.
Last week in San Antonio, 26 minutes went by with no ambulances available to respond to 911 calls from the city’s 1.5 million residents. In Austin, ambulances frequently sit unused because paramedics are so understaffed and overworked. Also in Austin, Covid-19 hospitalizations reached 720 on Aug. 20, the highest EVER since the pandemic began. Across the state, hospitals routinely report ZERO beds available in their ICUs.
On Aug. 25, Texas hit a record low for the number of available staffed intensive care unit beds–just 306 beds available for more than 29 million people. (Within the state, Travis County was in the very worst shape, with only 4 ICU beds available for over 3 million residents.)
The state asked the federal government for five mortuary trailers in anticipation of a potential spike in deaths.
Travis County last week exceeded 100K total Covid cases, with 943 deaths. The current number of people (over 630 patients) hospitalized locally for Covid is a new high, as is the number of patients on ventilators.
Vaccinations–the safe path to herd immunity
Worldwide, slightly more than 5 billion shots have been given, over 80% in high and middle income countries. Africa has the lowest vaccination rate of any continent, with efforts not even begun in many countries because no vaccines are available.
Greece is pushing vaccination by barring the unvaccinated from restaurants, cafes, clubs and sporting events. In Moscow, free cars are given to lucky vaccinated people in weekly drawings. Vaccinated Indonesians get a free (live) chicken, while vaccinated Romanians get a free sausage sandwich.
In the US, roughly 80 million eligible Americans remain unvaccinated. 52% of the entire population is fully vaccinated, as are 63% of adults and 82% of those 65 and older. The vaccination rate is up lately (whether due to mandates or fear of Delta). On average, we are now giving 876,000 shots per day.
The FDA on Aug. 23 granted full approval of the Pfizer vaccine for those age 16 and up. That long-awaited move will trigger an avalanche of vaccine mandates by businesses and government entities. Full approvals for Pfizer as to age 12-15 and for the Moderna and J&J vaccines are expected soon.
The Pentagon has ordered all 1.4M active service members to get vaccinated.
Companies requiring all workers to get vaccinated include: United Airlines, CVS, Chevron, Disney, and Goldman Sachs. Delta Airlines has a raft of carrots and sticks to encourage workers to get vaccinated; the latest is that unvaccinated workers will have to pay $200 additional per month for health insurance, reflecting the high cost of Covid hospitalizations for Delta employees—all unvaccinated to date.
Ohio State University is requiring all students, faculty and staff (100K total) to be vaccinated for the fall term. Others doing much the same include Louisiana State and University of Minnesota.
The Atlanta Falcons on Aug. 16 announced it is the first NFL team to vaccinate 100% of its players and coaches. Within the NFL, 92% of players are vaccinated; unvaccinated players face loss of eligibility and paychecks if they cause an outbreak.
Chicago is requiring all city workers to be vaccinated. In New York state, all health care workers, public and private and including nursing home workers, must have at least 1 shot by Sept. 27.
Pres. Biden announced Aug. 18 that nursing home/long-term care workers in contact with Medicare/Medicaid patients must be vaccinated (or facilities lose federal funds).
Illinois is requiring all school staff and eligible students to be vaccinated. New York City is requiring all school staff (150K people) to be vaccinated by Sept. 27, without the option of testing. In addition, NYC is requiring high school student athletes participating this fall in high-risk sports to be vaccinated in order to play. Oregon is requiring teachers and school staff to be vaccinated. New Jersey is also requiring school staff to be vaccinated, including those at private and charter schools.
Pfizer/Moderna booster shots will be available to all this fall. The time-table was originally announced as 8 months after the last shot, but that will likely shift to 6 months after the last shot. This is due to growing evidence that the vaccines become less protective against infection as time goes on. This shows the dramatic effect of a booster shot, as far as increasing immunity:
In Texas, only 47% of all residents are fully vaccinated. 58% of adults and 78% of those 65 and older are fully vaccinated.
San Antonio ISD became the first school district in Texas to mandate vaccinations for all teachers and staff.
State-supported colleges and universities are forbidden by Gov. Abbott to require vaccines on campus, so instead they are bribing students and staff to get shots. Prizes run from free parking and concert tickets to chances at free tuition.
Willie Nelson’s Aug. 22 concert required attendees to show proof of full vaccination or a recent negative test. The Austin City Limits Music Festival (Oct. 1-10) will require all patrons to provide proof of full vaccination or a recent negative test.
Harris County last week started giving $100 gift cards to people getting a first vaccination shot. The vaccination rate there shot up by 700%.
Travis County is giving 2 additional days of paid leave to all workers showing proof of vaccination.
Recent Covid articles I recommend….
Show Me the Data! 8/27/21 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/27/opinion/covid-data-vaccines.html
The F.D.A. grants full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. 8/23/21 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/23/us/politics/fda-approval-pfizer-vaccine.html
Desperate Texas doctors turn to antibody treatments to slow down surging COVID-19 hospitalizations 8/23/21 https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/23/coronavirus-texas-antibody-treatment-regeneron-doctors/
More people hospitalized, on ventilators for COVID-19 in Austin area than ever before 8/21/21 https://www.statesman.com/story/news/local/2021/08/10/texas-travis-county-covid-tracker-latest-case-trends-hospital-data/5551871001/
The Quiet Rage of the Responsible 8/19/21 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/19/opinion/covid-masks-vaccine-mandates.html
Ready for a COVID-19 vaccine booster? Your questions answered about getting a third dose. 8/18/21 https://www.statesman.com/story/news/healthcare/2021/08/18/covid-booster-vaccine-symptoms-pfizer-moderna-third-dose-johnson-johnson/8184202002/
Troubling CDC vaccine data convinced Biden team to back booster shots 8/17/21 https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/17/cdc-data-booster-shots-505637
Texas state elections
As far as Ken Paxton, this headline says it all. Embattled Texas AG Ken Paxton releases anonymous internal investigation clearing himself. 8/24/21 https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Embattled-Texas-AG-Ken-Paxton-releases-anonymous-16408398.php Unfortunately, that article is behind a paywall, but you can go here for more. Scandal-plagued Texas AG says he’s been cleared by his own office 8/25/21 https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/scandal-plagued-texas-ag-says-he-s-been-cleared-his-n1277606?cid=eml_mra_20210825&user_email=6ed7408ec573645e45ac2a65b61d1e1e6ab1b9effbafc1d30d0a407afca1b325
Ted Cruz also thrust himself into the news, resulting in another self-explanatory headline. Ted Cruz says he’d be a “disloyal jackass” if he didn’t vote for Greg Abbott for governor in Republican primary 8/19/21 https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/19/greg-abbott-reelection-ted-cruz/
One of the Republicans challenging Abbott in 2022 relied on his spouse for headlines. Allen West, GOP candidate for governor, calls wife’s DWI arrest in Dallas “insidious” 8/21/21 https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/21/texas-candidate-allen-west-police/
Dan Patrick shoved an entire shoe rack in his mouth to grab his own shameful headline. Dan Patrick said the unvaccinated Black community is driving the COVID surge. We fact-checked him. 8/27/21 https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/politifact/2021/08/27/no-covid-surge-cant-pinned-black-population/5601748001/
In Lakeway
Council met in Regular Session on Monday, Aug. 16, 6:30pm, in-person, at City Hall. Also, the proposed FY2022 budget has been posted on the city’s site (see link below). Meeting RESULTS in ALL CAPS. (Most of the meeting was held with 6 members in attendance; Council Member Vance arrived at 7:25 for the start of item 20.)
Mayor Kilgore kicked things off by noting that the 2020 Census has Lakeway population at 19,189. (That tabulation is over a year old, so we’re likely over 20K strong now.)
–The Consent Agenda (items 4-12) includes appointment of members to the Board of Ethics, Parks and Recreation Committee, and Wildlife Advisory Committee (names are in the Meeting Packet), as well as awarding contracts after bidding solicited for civil engineering services and street striping (details in Meeting Packet). ALL ITEMS WERE APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY, AFTER 1 NAME WAS SWAPPED OUT FOR WAC.
–Item 13 is Citizens Participation (for items not on the Consent Agenda). ONE PERSON SPOKE
–Item 14 is the Financial Report. REVENUE IS $1M OVER AND EXPENDITURES ARE $450K UNDER THE SCHEDULED AMOUNTS.
–Item 15 is a request by Tex Arts for $50K of Hotel Occupancy Tax funds. APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY
–Item 16 is an increase in trash and recycling fees from $22.14 to $22.33 per month for each household (subsequent to the provider’s rate increase request being approved last month). APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY
–Item 17 deals with the city’s franchise agreement with Austin Energy, maintaining the payment amount of 3% gross electric revenues from customers within Lakeway and extending the term for three years (instead of the requested 10 years and in order to coordinate with PEC’s franchise agreement, which now has a 2% rate with Lakeway—all to facilitate renegotiations with BOTH companies in 3 years). APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY
–Item 18 is a law enforcement interlocal agreement between the city and LTISD (which recently created its own police department; this standard agreement allows the 2 forces to work together in overlapping jurisdictions, with Lakeway PD taking the lead for any serious crimes happening on campus). APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY
–Item 19 is a special use permit for short-term rental (STR, less than 30 days) at 1819 Lakeway Boulevard. A few negative citizen comments demonstrated common misunderstandings about short-term rentals. So, take note: 1) City officials do NOT have legal authority to forbid the practice of short-term rentals in Lakeway, since the courts and Texas law hold that people have the right to use their residential property in this way. 2) Cities are allowed to regulate the practice in some ways; Lakeway limits STR to 25 single family homes AND requires at least 1,000’ distance between them. Currently, we only have 15 STR permits out for single family homes (mostly due to the 1,000’ limit). 3) There is no number or distance limit for condos (World of Tennis, Casa Verde, etc.). 4) We used to be able to limit the number of occupants and the number of cars parked, but that is no longer allowed by state law. 5) There is no limit to the number of times a property can be rented per year. 6) City staff does keep track of any complaints (such as for noise) neighbors make to the police department, and repeat offenses will get permits revoked. (Only 1 complaint–for noise–is on record for all STR properties over the last several months.) APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY
–Item 20 is a trio of requests relating to the proposed Nightingale Project, on 7.76 acres at 309 Ranch Road 620 North. Considerable info is in the Meeting Packet, pages 87-248. The current proposal is 248 rental units of Workforce housing (reduced rent for those making 60% or less of the area median income), with a parking garage and a privately-maintained one acre park, accessible to the public, to be built with several variances. To allow this project via PUD (Planned Unit Development), applicant is asking for 3 things: change the property’s future land use map designation from commercial to residential; reduce the minimum PUD district size from 8 acres, as stated in the Code of Ordinances, to 7.76 acres; and change zoning from the current C-1 (Office/Retail) and AG (Agricultural) to PUD. Many local businesses support this project, as it would provide lower cost housing to help staff our struggling businesses. Residential neighbors insist it is too dense and lacks parking (despite a lot of improvement in both areas since ZAPCO’s May meeting, plus access from 620 will be via a stop light at Nightingale); people really cannot expect that land to remain undeveloped, and I doubt they will be happy with commercial use, either. At the meeting, questions were raised as to whether TXDOT was committed to a traffic signal at 620 and Nightingale, as stipulated by the developer at the last ZAPCO meeting. The developer suggested tabling Council’s decision until the September meeting so this could be clarified. Council noted that ZAPCO assumed the traffic light was a given but still voted down the proposed development. So, Council declined to table the issue. DEVELOPER WITHDREW THE APPLICATION, ENDING THE MATTER.
–Item 21 is approval of the FY 2022 budget and proposal of 2021 property tax rate. The proposed budget was posted on the city’s site 8-13-21 https://www.lakeway-tx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/36734/FY-22-General-Fund-Draft-Budget City Manager Oakley reviewed budget several items:
–Lakeway’s tax base increased by 12%, from $5.1 billion last year to $5.7 billion this year.
–Average taxable home value in Lakeway increased from $559K in 2020 to $661K in 2021.
–When residents pay their property tax bill, only 7% of the total goes to City of Lakeway; the city’s average tax levy is $945.
–The “no new tax rate” would be 0.1547; she says 0.1545 will result in $16.3 million of balanced revenue and expenditures. (Previous tax rate was 0.1645, a full penny more per $100 valuation.)
–This budget allows the usual transfer of $350K to the Capital Reserve Fund and provides a healthy 33% Fund Balance Ratio.
–As for expenditures, the big increases are a 5% increase for personnel (COLA and merit raises for staff) and an 80% increase in Capitol Outlay largely due to needing to purchase 5 vehicles.
–On Sept. 13, there will be a public hearing on the issue. The Sept. 20 meeting is the deadline to adopt a budget and tax rate.
Tax rate of 0.1545 per $100 valuation–APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY (which means the rate cannot be increased)
–Addendum #1: Increase of Lakeway’s over age 65 homestead property tax exemption. Per the City Manager, 2,404 homes (23% of properties on the tax roll) now qualify for the current $5K exemption; the exempted value is roughly $12M and it saves $19T in taxes/$8 per 65+ homeowner. Increasing the exemption to $15K would save $57T in taxes/$24 per 65+ homeowner (shifting the $38T difference to other owners, residential and commercial, at roughly $7/each). APPROVED 5/0 (with 2 abstentions)
–Addendum #2: Review of a Nov. 16, 2020 ordinance re: Stratus and The Oaks’ development and setting a date certain for beginning its portion of the Main Street extension.
As the Mayor pointed out, the start date in the ordinance has passed. Despite multiple attempts at outreach by the city, Stratus has failed to respond with any plans. After discussion, Council AGREED the Mayor should communicate to Stratus that the city needs a proposal by Council’s next meeting on Main Street or a vote will be taken to enforce the ordinance.
–Items 22, 23, and 24 are Executive Sessions, where Council will consider (behind closed doors) a Lakeway MUD property request, police department matters, and legal advice relating to certain developments in the ETJ. EXECUTIVE SESSIONS STARTED 8:14PM; COUNCIL BACK IN OPEN SESSION 8:53PM.
–Item 25 is action, if any, on items discussed in the Executive Sessions.
City Attorney reported that, as to Item 24, because the Lazy 9 MUDs (located in the ETJ area south of 71 that was captured at the July meeting) are in advance stages, Lakeway should decline imposing its ordinances on them, assuming they proceed to obtain all Travis County and LCRA approvals as planned. The City Manager needs authorization to sign a memorandum of understanding detailing this. APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY
—Item 2: ADJOURNED 8:56PM.
Go here to watch this meeting— https://lakewaytx.new.swagit.com/videos/130514
Back to me….
I’m thinking that America is doomed, as far as an adequate response to Covid. It has been 18 months, and we are still wallowing in it. As a nation, we are 1) too stupid to comprehend the complex science involved; 2) too paranoid to accept that science evolves and expert guidance changes when dealing with a “novel” virus; and 3) too stubborn to just shut up and do as we are told by the few of us who have grasped points 1 and 2. I mean, gulping down livestock doses of ivermectin—really???
SPACs (special-purpose acquisition companies) have long been on my (extensive) list of Things I Do Not Understand. I finally get them. They allow unlikely/shady people to raise money for unspecified purposes with little to no transparency or regulation; as the article says—the only reason for doing a SPAC is to lure money in from ill-informed and greedy suckers desperate for a deal. SPACs are bad. Move on. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/21/business/dealbook/spac-market-future.html
Good books I recently finished (available at Lake Travis Community Library):
—I Alone Can Fix It (2021) by Carol Lennig and Philip Rucker—Three books came out in July on Trump’s disastrous final year in office, and I’m glad I saved this one for last; it is far and away the best-sourced and most complete. And, yes—I can still be shocked and nauseated by what Trump says and does. These Washington Post journalists covered it ALL—campaign, pandemic, election loss/Big Lie, insurrection, pardons and impeachment #2. Among the many revelations I haven’t seen elsewhere are numerous comments from military leaders—Generals Estes, Millay, McCarthy and more—often deeply concerned about Trump’s mental capacity and how far he would go to stay in office; no surprise there, except their concerns explain why there was zero military presence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, despite the desperate need for it and even after VP Pence begged for help. The book also details how the adults on the White House staff gradually faded away after Nov. 3 and then deserted in droves after Jan. 6, leaving Trump to be managed by Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and on-and-off-again lawyer Giuliani, both of whom opened the gates to their even smarmier cohorts. Just as he did with the other authors, Trump insisted on hosting Lennig and Rucker at Mar-a-Lago for a final Q&A among the retirees waiting for the buffet to open. There, Trump shared his one big regret—that he did not crush BLM protests with military might. Because, he’s still convinced he handled Covid-19 perfectly.
—Transient Desires (2021), by Donna Leon—This series is like a vacation in Venice with knowledgeable locals guiding the way. In the 30th installment, the remarkably well-read Commissario Guido Brunetti solves crimes along the city’s scenic canals and despite endemic local corruption at every level. It is the perfect antidote to Covid concerns and political mayhem.
Still seeing sweet fawns on my morning walks, but their spots are fading and they are growing up fast.
Panda cub video update on Washington Zoo’s Xiao (AKA Biscuit) who turned ONE YEAR OLD on Aug. 21:
Giant Panda Xiao Qi Ji Celebrates His First Birthday at Smithsonian’s National Zoo 8/21/21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDIbeZDfZgA
Giant panda’s big day–National Zoo’s cub turns 1 8/21/21 https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/national-zoo-giant-panda-cub-turns-1/65-01c76d3f-c5b6-4a25-8037-4a3e07fbd109?fbclid=IwAR11pUNC5yRy_jbjmYdG-VdNEYHvlKhPMGWLxrdCMwOmJ9dgChB2baWDkbE
The Best (And Cutest) Moments From The Giant Panda Cub’s First Year At The Zoo 8/20/21 https://www.npr.org/local/305/2021/08/23/1030271834/the-best-and-cutest-moments-from-the-giant-panda-cub-s-first-year-at-the-zoo