Impact of Social Distancing Measures on COVID-19 Healthcare Demand in Central Texas

Xutong Wang; Remy F Pasco; Zhanwei Du; Michaela Petty; Spencer J Fox; Alison P Galvani; Michael Pignone; S. Claiborne Johnston; Lauren Ancel Meyers

We conducted these analyses to inform decision making in a rapidly evolving environment with substantial uncertainty. On March 6, 2020, the city of Austin declared a local state of disaster and cancelled the South by Southwest Conference and Festival (SXSW) which was expected to draw 417,400 visitors from around the world and bring $355.9 million to the local economy [41] . Evidence of community transmission appeared within days of the first confirmed COVID-19 case in Austin, on March 13, 2020. Shortly after, the University of Texas at Austin, one of the largest public universities with over 50,000 students [42] . and the largest public school district in Austin announced school closures [43, 44] . On March 24, 2020, the city of Austin issued a 'Stay Home -Work . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.