COVID-19 Watch

Round Rock, Cedar Park, and Travis County issue shelter in place orders to curb COVID-19

Travis and Williamson counties have enacted a shelter in place order.

Photo courtesy of the CDC

Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt has signed an order mandating that residents of Travis County must now shelter in place, also called stay at home/work. Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell, Jr., announced he has enacted similar order, which covers parts of Austin, as well as Cedar Park and Round Rock.

Like Austin, which announced similar measures earlier Tuesday, the Travis and Williamson counties shelter in place orders go into effect at 11:59 pm on Tuesday, March 24. Eckhardt said the

The order mandates that all residents must stay in their residence unless it's to obtain essential services, such as getting food or medicine. Additionally, all non-essential businesses must close. The goal is to reduce person-to-person contact by 90 percent (officials believe it's currently at 50 percent under current restrictions).

During a press conference in downtown Austin, Eckhardt announced the news alongside Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell, Jr., as well as Cedar Park Mayor Corbin Van Arsdal, Round Rock Mayor Craig Morgan, and Austin Mayor Steve Adler.

"What we're talking about today is not a countywide approach, but a regional approach," said Gravell. Both he and Austin Public Health Medical Director Dr. Mark E. Escott called upon Governor Greg Abbott to enact a statewide shelter-in-place order.

"If we don't take action today, we’re going to run out [of medical supplies] soon," Escott warned.

Though he praised Trump for his quick approach, Escott said now was the time for bipartisan unity and to use "science and medicine to guide" future decisions.

"We have to forecast a little bit," said Escott. "[And look at] the lessons learned from China, Italy, Seattle, Washington [State], New York."

Escott also announced he was suggesting the closure of schools for the rest of the semester. In using outdoor space, including greenspaces and hike-and-bike trails, Escott cautioned to maintain the six-foot social distancing barrier.

"We've pulled together before. We did it with the bombings, we did it with water boil," said Adler. "This one is a little bit bigger, a little more sustained ... but we know how good it feels to do everything we can to help ensure that our neighbors are safe."

As of March 23, Williamson County had 14 confirmed cases of COVID-19; Travis County had 86.

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better luck next year

Austin drops out of top 50 'World's Best Cities' list for 2025

Photo by Tracy Vu on Unsplash

Austin needs to put in some major work to improve its ranking for the 2026 report.

In a surprising turn for the city, Austin is no longer considered one the top 50 best cities in the world, according to a prestigious new report by Resonance Consultancy.

The Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing advisors ranked Austin the 53rd best city worldwide for 2025 in its annual "World's Best Cities" list.

The report quantifies the relative qualities of livability, "lovability," and prosperity for the world's top 100 cities with metropolitan populations of 1 million or more. New to the 10th anniversary edition, Resonance partnered with global market researchers Ipsos to include perception-based data into the rankings, surveying over 22,000 people in 30 countries worldwide to determine "the most desirable places to visit, live or work."

Austin took a 10-place tumble after previously ranking as No. 43 for two consecutive years, starting in 2022.

Resonance refers to its previous "World's Best Cities" reports and its 2024 "America's Best Cities" list – which ranked Austin in the top 15 – when explaining the Texas Capital's successes. The report praised Austin's "progressive spirit," economic prosperity, and the award-winning University of Texas at Austin.

"Austin continues to position itself as a hub of innovation and talent," the report's author wrote. "Over the past decade, the Austin area has become a magnet for major corporations, with Tesla recently establishing headquarters here to join long-standing players like Whole Foods and Dell."

However, Resonance attribute's Austin's dip in the rankings due to rising office vacancy rates and high housing prices.

"The office vacancy rate is climbing as remote work continues to impact the demand for commercial spaces," the report said. "Moreover, housing remains among the least affordable in the U.S., despite home prices having dropped 18 percent from the pandemic highs seen in mid-2022, the most among the 50 largest U.S. metro areas according to Redfin."

Elsewhere in Texas, both Houston and Dallas made major rebounds on the World's Best Cities list for 2025 from the previous year's rankings. Houston had plummeted into No. 66 in 2023, but has now skyrocketed back into the top 50 to claim the No. 40 spot. Meanwhile, Dallas moved up from No. 73 in last year's report to its current rank as No. 55.

London held onto its crown as the No. 1 best city in the world for 2025, followed by New York (No. 2), Paris (No. 3), Tokyo (No. 4), and Singapore (No. 5).

austin reports city life