we are going straight back to a SHUTDOWN.....thanks morons!!
[HEADING=1][The authorities in Austin warn residents that the city’s Covid situation is ‘dire.’]('https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/08/07/world/covid-delta-variant-vaccine#austin-covid-dire-abbott')[/HEADING]

[IMG alt="The Austin area has seen a dramatic rise in the number of new infections, the highest surge since before vaccinations became widely available, and its intensive care units are near capacity."]
The Austin area has seen a dramatic rise in the number of new infections, the highest surge since before vaccinations became widely available, and its intensive care units are near capacity.Credit...Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images
The authorities in Austin, Texas, warned the public on Saturday that the city’s Covid-19 situation had grown desperate, as a surge in cases driven by the Delta variant swamped hospitals while city officials were prevented from issuing mask mandates or vaccinations [by order of the state’s governor, Greg Abbott]('https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/31/world/greg-abbott-mask-vaccine-mandate.html').
In an alert sent via text, phone call, email, social media and other channels to people in the area on Saturday, the city authorities said: “The Covid-19 situation in Austin is dire. Healthcare facilities are open but resources are limited due to a surge in cases.”
Bryce Bencivengo, a spokesman for the city’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said that Friday had been one of the worst days for Austin’s hospitals since the pandemic started. More than 100 new Covid patients were admitted that day, he said, and intensive care units were near capacity, with Covid patients occupying more than 180 I.C.U. beds and 102 of those patients on ventilators.
“We are in the single digits of I.C.U. beds available,” Mr. Bencivengo said, adding that patients in emergency rooms were being forced to wait for space in the I.C.U.s to open up.
Austin’s mayor, Steve Adler, said in an interview on Saturday that the crisis could have been avoided if [Mr. Abbott]('https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/world/texas-governor-local-mask-mandates.html') had not barred local government authorities from issuing mandates on masking. He said the city’s authorities wanted to avoid suing Mr. Abbott, but that “ultimately we’re going to need to do what is necessary to fight for the safety of our community.”