IMPORTANT UPDATES
Today’s COVID-19 News You Can Use newsletter is filled with new information including Governor Abbott's Executive Order requiring all Texans to wear a face covering in public spaces. We also have a great deal of updated information for Williamson County and Leander ISD. Be sure to look through today’s articles.
FEDERAL & STATE UPDATES FOR BUSINESS
Governor Abbott issued an Executive Order requiring ALL TEXANS to wear a face covering over the nose and mouth in public spaces in counties with 20 or more positive COVID-19 cases, with few exceptions.
The Governor also issued a proclamation giving mayors and county judges the ability to impose restrictions on some outdoor gatherings of over 10 people, and making it mandatory that, with certain exceptions, people cannot be in groups larger than ten and must maintain six feet of social distancing from others. Additionally, the Governor released a new video message to coincide with this Executive Order, encouraging Texans to do their part to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and keep their communities safe.
Click here to View the Video
.
Click here to View the Executive Order
.
Governor Abbott and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) announced that
$2.67 billion in federal funding has been approved to support Texas hospitals that provide care for people receiving Medicaid.
This is a $1.07 billion increase from the previous State Fiscal Year 2020. The Uniform Hospital Rate Increase Program is a statewide program that provides for increased Medicaid payments to hospitals for inpatient and outpatient services provided to persons with Medicaid. The program aims to reduce the Medicaid shortfall for hospitals that serve people who receive Medicaid.
Governor Abbott announced that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) will
provide approximately $182 million in emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food benefits for the month of July.
HHSC received federal approval from the US Department of Agriculture to extend the maximum allowable amount of SNAP benefits to recipient’s base on family size. For more information,
CLICK HERE
.
WILLIAMSON COUNTY UPDATE
Williamson County Office of Emergency Management in partnership with the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) and the Texas Military Department are
coordinating free COVID-19 testing sites next week in the cities of Jarrell and Taylor
. The City of Liberty Hill is rescheduling their COVID-19 Testing for a different date in the future. In the meantime, Family Health Clinic in Cedar Park is offering free COVID-19 testing for Liberty Hill residents as an option near the city. For more information about testing sites, dates and times –
CLICK HERE
.
Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area has launched a new Workforce Wednesdays Virtual Career Expo campaign within the nine-county Rural Capital Area of Central Texas
, to connect employers and job seekers at weekly online hiring events. Workforce Wednesdays Virtual Career Expo information,
CLICK HERE
.
Williamson County has had an increase of known COVID-19 cases by 682 since Friday. There have been six more confirmed deaths since Thursday. The deaths include a male in his 50s, two males in their 60s, a male in his 70s, a female in her 70s and a female in her 90s.
Williamson County currently has 2,069 active cases. There have been 3,151 cases total and 972 have recovered.
There are 108 individuals hospitalized with 31 in the ICE leaving 22% of the ICU beds available. There are 12 people who are on ventilators leaving 50% of the available ventilators left. In total, there have been 45 COVID-19 related deaths in Williamson County.
The Williamson County Rate for New Infection has grown to 25.6 – it was at 1.7 on June 7
th
(30 days ago).
For a full picture of the WILCO Dashboard,
CLICK HERE
.
CITY OF CEDAR PARK UPDATES
The City of Cedar Park has a current active COVID-19 case count of 256. We have had 367 cases total with 101 recovered.
Cedar Park is also promoting the CDC’s new “Stop the Spread of Germs” video here. Please view by
CLICKING HERE
when you have a moment.
LEANDER ISD UPDATES
Leander ISD wants to connect with families as they continue to plan for starting school on August 13,
including parent choice for their students and the proactive steps they are taking to provide a safe and healthy environment for students, teachers and staff.
There are options for families and registration for webinars they will be hosting tomorrow (July 8
th
) and Thursday (July 9
th
). For more information,
CLICK HERE
.
AVAILABLE RESOURCES
In response to the recent
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Flexibility Act that passed on June 5
th
, the U.S. Treasury has released new loan forgiveness forms.
These forms aim to shorten documentation requirements to give borrowers an easier path to debt forgiveness. In addition to this “EZ” application, the Treasury also released a revised, full forgiveness application in accordance with the PPP Flexibility Act. Please find the documents below.
IN CLOSING TODAY
Safety continues to be paramount. People have their own thoughts on what is safe and what isn’t, but I would ask you to stay informed. There are professionals who are way more knowledgeable than you or I and they do this for a living. Get your information from reputable sources. Be sure you know the proper precautions to take. The last thing any of us wants to do is see this continue to grow and get worse. We are in this together – let’s act like it!
Be safe and be kind to one another!
Tony Moline, IOM, PCED
President & CEO
Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce
