The Austin Independent School District will be spending the next week calling district families to determine student needs before school starts on Sept. 8. According to a press release from the district, “The individualized conversations will include discussions on technology needs and general information on the upcoming school year. The discussions are essential for Austin ISD staff to prepare for the first four weeks of school in regard to on-campus staffing and support for families.” AISD emphasizes that the concentrated outreach this week will not replace a survey that asks families about continuing with remote learning or opting in to on-campus learning when some schools are currently scheduled to reconvene on Oct. 5. That survey, according to the district, will take place before the October reopening of schools. At the moment, AISD is scheduled to begin the school year on Sept. 8 with four weeks of remote learning. The district is trying to ensure that students have the technology at home to participate in remote participation, either by getting that access to homes or by limited on-campus instruction in cases where that isn’t possible. For more details about school reopenings, read the district’s letter, “Open for Learning.”

Unlike the usual technological struggles associated with virtual commission meetings, Wednesday’s officer elections at the Environmental Commission were a breeze. With three positions to fill, the commission managed to nominate candidates and record unanimous votes to reappoint the chair, vice chair and commission secretary within five minutes. Linda Guerrero will continue to be commission chair for another year, Katie Coyne remains vice chair and Kevin Ramberg is the secretary.

Travis County taxpayers fund health care for more than 1 in 8 county residents. Ninety-six percent of Central Health’s budget is dedicated to health care delivery while the remaining 4 percent covers administration expenses. To learn more about Central Health’s budget, residents are invited to participate in a virtual community conversation held Monday, Aug. 31, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. RSVP on Eventbrite.

Austin Public Health reported Tuesday that, since last week, backlogged lab data from the Department of State Health Services have left case number reports in a confusing state. According to the city, “APH will continue to process the backlogged lab results and will not know the true impact of the reporting error until processing is complete.” However, the source of the confusion is known. The public health authority received about 2,200 lab reports from DSHS on Aug. 13, and it turns out many of them are duplicates and outdated, with some results “dating back as far as April” due to a backlog of electronic lab reports. Information about new cases, such as it is, can be found on the region’s Covid-19 dashboard.

After months of interviews and applications, the Travis County Commissioners Court has nominated Cynthia Brinson to replace Abigail Aiken on the Central Health Board of Managers and continue a term through the end of 2024. Brinson has served as the special needs physician for the Travis County Corrections Complex since 1998 and founded the nonprofit sexual health KIND Clinic. Amit Motwani was nominated as the runner-up candidate. Commissioner Brigid Shea said that the three candidates were all “excellent,” but that Brinson’s medical expertise and experience providing care to underserved populations is essential knowledge for the board. Commissioner Jeff Travillion noted that Motwani was once a MAP recipient himself and that firsthand knowledge is “desperately needed to serve the community that it is designed to serve.” County staff told commissioners that their recommendations do not align with those of the city of Austin for this joint appointment. Therefore, staff will return before the court in two weeks with a recommendation for a final decision on the appointment.

The city of Austin has extended its Stay Home, Mask, and Otherwise Be Safe Order until Dec. 15 “in an effort to continue slowing the rate of new Covid-19 cases as businesses gradually reopen.” The new Aug. 14 order “maintains construction and other worksite requirements established in previous orders and includes penalties for violations. Among other continuing requirements, face coverings and physical distancing remain mandatory, and gatherings of more than 10 people are generally prohibited, with some exceptions.” The city goes on to add that “these orders extend deadlines and expiration dates until March 15, 2021, for a number of development-related activities, including site plans, subdivisions, zoning, and building permits, unless the actual deadline or expiration date is later. The order also includes some options related to permitting for businesses that repurpose their manufacturing operations for materials such as ventilators, masks, personal protective equipment, or other supplies necessary for Healthcare Operations and Critical Infrastructure.” Learn more about the city’s construction requirements here.

In an effort to prevent West Nile virus from spreading throughout the region, Austin Public Health is asking the community to raise its mosquito awareness this summer. “While Covid-19 is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, we need to remember the many other diseases that are commonly present in our community, including West Nile virus,” Janet Pichette, APH chief epidemiologist, said in a press release. The most common mosquito-borne disease in the country, West Nile is spread by the bite of an infected mosquito. The disease can be averted by reducing the number of mosquitoes in an area, which means reducing all sources of standing water, which is where mosquitoes lay their eggs. There were no positive cases of West Nile virus detected in Travis County last year; this year, APH’s Environmental and Vector Control Program “has identified 14 positive pools of West Nile Virus in Travis County and our Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Unit has reported two probable neuroinvasive human cases.” Don Hastings, APH Environmental Health Services assistant director, said, “You have the power to prevent and protect your loved ones from West Nile virus by draining standing water, limiting time spent outdoors and wearing appropriate clothing and DEET when outdoors.”

Want to become a deputy? We’re not sure if you’ll get a badge, but you can be deputized by Austin Transportation “to issue citations and warnings to illegally parked motorists and help with community education efforts to ensure accessible parking is available for those who need to legally utilize these parking spaces.” To become a deputized volunteer for the Accessible Parking Enforcement Program, fill out an application form and register for the training sessions. The deadline to register is Wednesday, Aug. 19, at 5 p.m. The training complies with social distancing measures and both volunteers and instructors must wear face coverings.

Texas Department of Transportation crews are going to be starting work on repaving and restriping North Lamar Boulevard between Parmer Lane and Howard Lane. The project will “improve safety and mobility by converting the 4-lane roadway into a 3-lane roadway with a continuous left-turn lane,” according to an announcement from the Austin Transportation Department. “The project will also widen the roadway along northbound North Lamar Boulevard between Parmer Lane and the Walmart shopping center entrance to accommodate dedicated left- and right-turn lanes.” The work should be done by fall, “weather permitting,” as always.

In disheartening but expected news, the city of Austin and Travis County have extended stay-at-home guidelines designed to curb the spread of Covid-19 through Dec. 15. “We are not out of the woods,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler said in a news release about the extensions. “Covid-19 infectivity is still too high – especially in the Hispanic community. We need to work together to get infectivity down across our entire city. If we want to stay safe and reopen, we must keep social distancing, washing our hands and wearing our masks.” The new order extends face-covering and social distancing requirements and limitations on social gatherings. In addition, the city guidelines extend development applications until March 15, 2021, and nursing home standards now comply with new state guidelines that permit some visitors. Significantly, the Austin order establishes parameters for school instruction, and standards for in-person learning that comply with the Texas Education Agency funding. Those standards are detailed in this chart:

With the Nov. 3 presidential election just around the corner and record voter turnout expected in Travis County, the Travis County Elections Division is asking the community to pitch in and volunteer their spaces “to make sure voters can exercise their right to vote safely and conveniently.” A record number of voting centers and poll workers are needed to handle the expected turnout. Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir “is asking anyone who owns or manages a facility that has a room that’s at least 1,500 square feet, is up to code under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and has accessible parking and wide hallways, to consider using their facility as a voting center this Nov. 3,” according to a press release. Large rooms are especially needed. If your facility checks all those boxes and you’d like to volunteer it as a voting center, go to VoteTravis.com and fill out the interest form by Aug. 21. Community members are also needed to volunteer as poll workers. Learn more and sign up here. Watch this brief message from DeBeauvoir.

About 450 acres of the city’s Water Quality Protection Lands in Hays County are expected to be the site of prescribed burning from August to November. These lands, part of the WQPL program, are managed by Austin Water’s Wildland Conservation Division and are critical “for the quality and quantity of water recharging the Edwards Aquifer, which provides water to both Barton Springs and to groundwater wells in Hays and Travis Counties,” according to an announcement. The conservation division’s Luke Ball explained that prescribed burning “is one of the strategies used to manage these lands and protect groundwater in Central Texas. Prescribed burns improve the resiliency of our land when they are used as a planned seasonal management tool.” The carefully managed fires mimic the natural fire cycle and help restore the ecosystem as well as reduce the risk of uncontrolled and destructive wildfires. Sign up here to receive periodic notifications about planned prescribed burns on the wildlands.