By SUSAN LAHEY
Special Contributor to Silicon Hills News

Austin’s accelerators and incubators are starting to have events in person again, after months of moving everything online.

Capital Factory hosted a May Startup Showcase Tuesday at its offices, with 48 people signed up to attend. It might have been the first local startup gathering to take place in person since the COVID-19 lockdown. But other organizations seem to be in no hurry to move their events offline, and some have even found some unexpected benefits to the “new normal.”

Sandy West, Austin Technology Incubator’s director of communications, media, and partnerships, acknowledges she misses human interactions and finds back-to-back Zoom meetings exhausting. On the other hand, she said, stuff is getting done. ATI, like other incubators and accelerators, already used advanced videoconferencing technology to interact with entrepreneurs and investors around the world. Pushing more meetings into the virtual realm created a lot of efficiencies. For example, ATI was involved in the EarthXE-CapitalVirtual Summit in Dallas recently. Normally, West said, the summit was able to facilitate fewer than 100 meetings. This year, however, the 83 investors and 88 companies engaged in 303 meetings.

“I do think being face-to-face physically is so important,” West said. “But I have a lot more trust that we can absolutely do our business, support our incubating companies, almost more efficiently from the virtual space.”

Getting down to business

Amos Schwartzfarb, managing director of Techstars Austin, said he loves the dynamic social environment of Austin; but having events is a bonus to what they do, not the focus.

“Our job isn’t to give (the entrepreneurs) a social environment; our job is to help them build a great business,” he said.

At Techstars, for example, demo days are a time to celebrate the completion of a program with those in your cohort and they give entrepreneurs an opportunity to hone their pitches. Since Schwartzfarb started his program a little early this spring, his group’s demo day happened early, just days before the stay-at-home orders came. Other Techstars demo days had to be virtual. But while these events are good community builders, he said, Techstars no longer invites investors. Out of 10 pitches at such an event, he said, a given investor might only be interested in one company. And there are hundreds of such events for investors to attend.

Rather Techstars focuses on making introductions, seeing building relationships as key to the program. One impact of COVID-19, Schwartzfarb said, has been to clear away anything that isn’t critical, which may sharpen Austin’s entrepreneurial focus.

“The expectation that anybody with an idea and a tiny bit of traction can raise a seed round and fund a round that’s worth funding,” has gone by the wayside in this economy, Schwartzfarb said. “It forces people to be really resourceful. It supports positive economics, data and metrics-driven. It forces people to tell their story with math instead of theater.”  

Even when social distancing is over, Schwartzfarb said, there are some new habits he hopes to keep as part of the program. For example, since they are not working in the same office, his team has been meeting virtually every Monday for a 20-minute a standup. Each meeting is led by a different person with a different topic. It goes beyond what they previously talked about, such as ‘what are you working on now?’ and gets everyone working together collectively. Schwartzfarb wants to make that a regular practice for their team.  

Pivoting for change

When the world suddenly shifts, it’s a good thing to know how to pivot. For ATI, one of their pivots has been to make virtual meetings special by sending goody bags to participants—sending lunch to someone’s home, for example, for what traditionally would have been a luncheon event.

This might particularly be especially good for an incubator like SKU where the companies are all making goodies all the time.

SKU is hosting its first virtual showcase on Wednesday at noon for track eight of its accelerator program.

 “Like a lot of businesses, COVID forced us to pivot our program online  – from our classes to our mentor meetings to our live pitch events,” Kirstin Ross, managing director of SKU, said in an emailed statement. “Although we love celebrating in person, the SKU Showcase video provides our founders with even more exposure to investors, retail buyers, and other CPG industry professionals from around the country. People might not be able to sample the products, but they will get a real taste of the companies and the founders.”

Longhorn Startup at the University of Texas at Austin also last week held its Demo Day online featuring Venture Capitalist Mike Maples Jr., founding partner at Floodgate, as its keynote speaker.

Longhorn Startup Demo Day 2020

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Many entrepreneurs are choosing to pivot, too. West said Re:3D pivoted to making facemasks and is assisting people around the world with their 3D printers in doing the same. Big Wheelbarrow, which eases supply chain headaches that prevent retailers from selling local products, launched an emergency food network. West said ATI was getting ready to announce a consortium with the University of Texas to help tackle some of the issues raised by the pandemic.

While the world waits for the pandemic danger to pass—a period that scientists say could be a more than a year from now—untold opportunities could arise that will inspire new companies to invent things that make the world better and safer in the future. One day, West said, we’ll go back to having big conferences and happy hours. People need to share the energy of being in each other’s physical space. Austin’s startup community has the chance to do some good in the meantime.

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, Texas is moving to further open its economy allowing childcare centers, massage centers, tattoo and body piercing studios and more to resume operations effective Monday, according to Governor Greg Abbott.

And on Friday, bars, wine tasting centers, craft beer establishments, bowling alleys, skating centers, zoos, aquariums, rodeos, and more will be able to open as part of Texas’ Phase II opening of its economy, Abbott said.

“I want you to know this, today, tomorrow and every day going forward is one day closer to medical discoveries that will help treat and protect people from getting COVID-19, until that day comes, our focus is to keep you safe while also restoring your ability to get back to work, to open your businesses, to pay your bills, to put food on your tables,” Abbott said during an afternoon press conference that was broadcast online by KXAN. “But let’s be clear, COVID-19 it still exists in Texas, our goal is to find ways to coexist with COVID-19 as safely as possible.”

That includes continuing these safe practices that people have already adopted like maintaining safe distances, wearing a mask, and sanitizing hands, Abbott said.

“It is a fact that these safe practices save lives,” Abbott said.

Already, effective Monday, business offices can reopen with up to ten employees or 25 percent of its workforce as long as they maintain safe distancing and other practices designed to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Manufacturing operations are also allowed to resume with 25 percent occupancy and other guidelines.

And beginning May 31^st, Texas will allow summer day and overnight camps to reopen along with professional sports such as basketball, baseball, car racing, football, golf, softball, and tennis leagues without spectators.

Most of the major COVID-19 outbreaks in Texas have occurred at nursing homes, jails, and meatpacking plants, Abbott said. And that is what accounts for the spike in COVID-19 cases in the Amarillo area, he said.

There are now 2,129 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Potter County with Amarillo as its largest city. That ranks the county fifth in Texas behind Travis County with 2,425 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and ahead of Bexar County with 2,120 cases.

Overall, Texas has 47,784 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and the state estimates 27,570 people have recovered from the disease. There have been 1,336 deaths from COVID-19 reported as of Monday.

People over the age of 65 make up most of the deaths in Texas and moving forward, it is recommended that seniors stay at home as much as possible, Abbott said.

As the state has opened up for Texas, the state has ample supplies of protective personal equipment and its testing has also increased, Abbott said.

Based on input from data and doctors, Gov. Abbott said it is now time to take the next steps to resume economic activity in Texas.

Texas is allowing restaurants to increase capacity to 50 percent total occupancy starting on Friday. They had previously operated at 25 percent capacity. Restaurants are required to maintain at least six feet of distance from other parties at all times including while waiting to be seated in the restaurant. They also cannot have tables of more than six people and they must have hand sanitizing stations available upon entry to the restaurant.

Since May 8^th, barbershops, hair salons, nail shops, tanning salons, and other businesses have been allowed to operate at 25 percent capacity. Gyms and exercise facilities were allowed to reopen Monday with a reduced capacity of 25 percent with lockers and shower rooms closed, but restrooms are allowed to remain open.

And summer school can resume as soon as June 1^st as long as they follow safe distancing guidelines, Abbott said.

“As we open up, we must continue to place health and safety at the forefront,” Abbott said.

Texas is putting a temporary pause on certain counties that are not allowed to begin Phase II until May 29^th and that includes El Paso, Potter, Randall, Moore, and Deaf Smith counties, he said.

“Texans have always faced adversity and they have always prevailed,” Abbott said.

Texas’ fatality rate is one of the lowest in America, he said.

“We are getting through this, but now more than ever we need to work together,” Abbott said.

For a full list of the businesses allowed to open and the restrictions placed upon them visit the Open Texas website here.

Everlywell received authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its COVID-19 Test Home Collection Kit.

The FDA sent out a news release Saturday reporting that Austin-based Everlywell’s home collection kit is currently the only authorized COVID-19 diagnostic testing kit the FDA has approved.

The government regulator issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) to Everlywell allowing the company to provide the kit to people by prescription only.

Initially, Everlywell reported it would begin providing at-home tests for COVID-19 to people on March 23^rd. But it ran into a snag as the FDA reported it had not approved any home tests.

Now, it has.

“The authorization of a COVID-19 at-home collection kit that can be used with multiple tests at multiple labs not only provides increased patient access to tests, but also protects others from potential exposure,” Jeffrey Shuren, M.D., J.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a news release. “Today’s action is also another great example of public-private partnerships in which data from a privately funded study was used by industry to support an EUA request, saving precious time as we continue our fight against this pandemic.”  

Everlywell will collect at-home samples from people and then process them at specified laboratories for COVID-19 diagnostic testing. The kits are only authorized to be used by people who have been screened using an online questionnaire that is reviewed by a health care provider.

Everlywell’s self-collection kit contains nasal swabs to collect a sample and a tube filled with saline to transport the sample back to a specified lab.

To use the at-home test, a person needs to collect a specimen using the swab. Then they ship the sample overnight to a certified lab.

Everlywell is working Fulgent Therapeutics and Assurance Scientific Laboratories to process the specimens. The lab results will be provided through telemedicine by Everlywell’s physician network and its online portal.

Everlywell previously stated the tests would cost $135.

To get approval for the COVID-19 test, Everlywell drew on existing data and studies, supported by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and UnitedHealth Group, to show the specimens would remain stable during shipping.

“The data from these studies are freely available to support other EUA requests, alleviating each test developer of the burden of recreating the same study,” according to the FDA.

Everlywell, founded in 2015 by Julia Cheek, makes and sells 35 home lab testing kits for sexual health, thyroid, metabolism, men’s health, and other health needs. It sells the kits online and at retail stores like CVS and Target.

Last April, Everlywell landed $50 million in venture capital funding. The company has raised $55 million to date.

Invoiced, a bootstrapped startup based in Austin has struck a partnership with American Express.

The deal provides small and mid-sized businesses a 40 percent discount on Invoiced’s accounts receivable software for two years.

Customers must sign up for a subscription plan by March 12, 2022.

American Express through the partnership is expected to play an important role in how Invoiced scales its business, said Adam Weinroth, the company’s Chief Marketing Officer.

“It has the potential to be a game-changer,” he said.

The partnership with American Express was already underway before the Pandemic, Weinroth said. He had visited with American Express representatives in New York before the shelter in place orders went into effect, he said.

“Due to the Pandemic and how it can affect business for SMEs, the importance of this kind of solution has intensified,” he said.

Invoiced has 10 employees and is hiring five more by the end the year, Weinroth said.

Right now, Invoiced’s employees are working from home, Weinroth said. They are following the latest City of Austin and Travis County’s Shelter in Place order, which was extended until May 30^th.  The company had recently moved out Capital Factory to its own 2,500 square-foot headquarters off Southwest Parkway.

Invoiced, which has more than 20,000 companies on its platform, also this year struck a partnership deal with JPMorgan Chase & Co. that brought payment processing capability to Invoiced’s customers.

Silverton Partners, based in Austin, announced this week that it has closed on Fund VI at $144 million, its largest fund to date.

The venture capital firm, founded in 2006, focuses on early-stage companies and just in the last two years, its seed-funded startups have exited for a combined $3.2 billion, according to the firm. Those exits include Sailpoint, Ping Identity, TrendKite, Favor, WPEngine, and SpareFoot.

In 2018, Silverton closed on Fund V at $108 million.

Silverton plans to invest the latest fund primarily in Texas. It has recently funded startups in New York, Southern California and Utah. The firm has also established its first Opportunity Fund for up to eight investments in later-stage funding rounds for existing portfolio companies

“Texas remains one of the nation’s most interesting and fastest-growing tech markets, with Austin leading the way,” Silverton General Partner Morgan Flager said in a news release.

Silverton Partners includes General Partner Kip McClanahan, Mike Dodd, and Flager. The firm has also added Tina Dai as a Principal from First Round Capital. And Silverton Partners promoted Roger Chen, whose previous experience was with Genacast Ventures, to partner; and Alyssa Dadoly, formerly VP Finance, to Chief Financial Officer.

Flager also answered the following questions about the latest fund via email.

Q. How difficult was it to raise the fund during the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Flager: “COVID-19 definitely added additional complexity to the final close. However, the vast majority of the capital was committed prior to the pandemic hitting the US and came from our existing limited partners who have supported us for a number of years. We are thankful for their continued support and belief in Silverton. We were also fortunate to add several new LP’s as well and finish with Silverton Partners VI oversubscribed.”

Q. Why did you create the Opportunity Fund? Why is there a need for it?

Flager: “We have been fortunate over time to be early investors in a number of successful companies. Many have gone on to raise large growth financings that are beyond the scope of our early-stage funds. The Opportunity Fund gives us the capability to continue to support our most successful companies, while not diluting the strategy and focus of our flagship, early-stage funds which have historically produced great returns for our investors.”

How many companies do you expect to invest in with Fund VI?

Flager: “We expect to have 20-25 portfolio companies in SPVI.” 

Q. Are there particular industries you plan to invest in?

Flager: “Our most active investment areas include B2B software, consumer internet and mobile. We’ve targeted these industries since the inception of the firm and have had a number of high-profile outcomes — including several successful IPO’s (Sailpoint, Ping Identity and Convio). More recently, we’ve invested in a small number of digitally native brands. Billie, which agreed to be purchased by Proter & Gamble earlier this year, is our first successful outcome in this category. We have also invested in a handful of fintech businesses, including Self Financial and The Zebra, which have shown tremendous promise.”

Q. About 70 to 75 percent of the capital is targeted at investments inside Texas, why do you look to invest locally?

Flager: “We believe we can add more value to our portfolio companies as a local partner. One of the biggest success factors for startups is the team they are able to attract. As a result of Silverton being the most active investor in the state of Texas, we have unparalleled relationships with the talent pool in this market and can leverage that to provide Silverton companies with an advantage. In addition, we believe having an extremely collaborative relationship with our founders leads to better outcomes. Being in the same geography as most of our investments makes collaboration with the entrepreneurs we back easier and more personal. Finally, we believe Texas represents a high potential, high growth tech ecosystem which merits dedicated attention. In 2019, Texas ranked fourth in terms of total venture dollars invested in the U.S.”

Q. Austin has been criticized in the past for not having enough funding for its size and the volume of deals that are here, do you still think that is true?

Flager: “This is always an interesting debate. One thing is certain — there is more capital available in Austin than ever before, from a larger number of capital providers than ever before. I personally feel that there is enough capital available in Austin to produce a volume of high profile outcomes, across a variety of different tech sectors. If Austin makes good on that opportunity, returns for investors in Austin will be exceptional and more capital will flow into this ecosystem — making it stronger.  No one wants that to happen more than Silverton.”

Q. How is the COVID-19 Pandemic going to change Austin’s startup ecosystem?

Flager: “Overall, the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 is going to create headwinds for most start-ups. Unfortunately, some businesses that are directly affected may not see the other side of this crisis. Those that do, will likely emerge stronger as capital continues to flock to the winners and talent follows. Austin is now strong and diverse; this ecosystem will remain an exciting place to do business and invest. As we go through this pandemic, I think Austin will be viewed as one of the most attractive places to start a new business in the country.”

Q. Anything else you would like to add or make a point of?

Flager: “Silverton has made some of its most attractive investments during economic downturns. We are actively looking to partner with entrepreneurs who view this crisis as an opportunity to create a better future and move the world forward.”  

Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced Monday plans to allow Texas’ stay at home order, which closed businesses and required Texans to limit social contact to prevent the spread of COVID-19 during the pandemic, to expire on Thursday.

Governor Abbot also announced a new order allowing retailers, restaurants, movie theaters, and malls to reopen Friday at 25 percent capacity.

“It’s hard to get rid of this virus because it’s so contagious,” Abbott said during a press conference televised online Monday. “We’re not going to just open up and hope for the best.”

Texas has put measures in place for containing the virus and keeping Texans safe, Abbott said.

Capacity for businesses will increase to 50 percent on May 18th if Texas does not see a spike in COVID-19 cases, Abbott said.

For now, barbershops, hair and nail salons, gyms, and bars will remain closed, Abbott said.

In addition, there is no statewide mandate for people to wear masks even though some of the state’s largest cities and counties have enacted such ordinances. Gov. Abbott said his order supersedes all local orders and no one will be fined for not wearing a mask, he said.

Re-opening Texas businesses must occur in phases, Abbott said.

“We don’t want to reopen only to close down again,” he said.

The most important element of Phase 1 is protecting Texas’ most vulnerable population, which is people over 65, Abbott said. People 65 and over account for 20 percent of the positive COVID-19 tests in Texas. However, 76 percent of the deaths that have occurred were to people 65 and over.

“The bottom line is this – the more we do to protect our vulnerable population, the safer we can open business in Texas,” Abbott said.

Texas has 25,297 cases of people testing positive for COVID-19 and 663 deaths and 11,170 people have recovered from the disease, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Travis County has 1,412 cases of COVID-19 and 39 deaths and 344 people have recovered, according to the City of Austin. Bexar County has 1,254 cases of COVID-19 and 43 deaths, according to the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District.

The new order allows businesses to reopen, but it does not require them to do so, Abbott said. If a business owner feels unsafe and does not want to reopen, there is no requirement to reopen, he said.

In addition to business, Texas’ museums and libraries can reopen under the 25 percent capacity rule starting Friday, Abbott said. This is permission to reopen and not a requirement, he said.

“A lot of business is done by sole proprietors – they can safely return to work now,” he said.

In addition, churches and places of worship can expand their capacity even more as long as they adhere to safe distancing practices, Abbott said.

Outdoor sports are also allowed but they are limited to four participants playing together and require certain social distancing practices, Abbott said. That allows for activities like golf and tennis, he said.

In addition, doctors, nurses, dentists, and all licensed healthcare workers can return to work, Abbott said.

Throughout the COVID-19 lockdown, Texas has allowed farmers and ranches, grocery stores, pharmacies, banks, gas stations, construction workers, real estate offices, and other essential businesses to operate. They have put social distancing requirements and hygiene practices into place that have kept those workplaces safe, Abbott said. Texas is looking at their practices as a guideline for reopening even more businesses safely, he said.

Even in low population counties, COVID-19 can spread very rapidly, Abbott said. But he is allowing Texas counties with five or fewer cases of COVID-19 to increase their business capacity to operate to 50 percent on Friday.

As far as barbershops, hair and nail salons, bars and gyms reopening, Texas is working with members of the business sector to open as soon as possible hopefully by mid-May, he said.  

Texas is also working to expand access to childcare services so Texans can return to work, Abbott said.

In addition, Texas is developing a contact tracing application that will be deployed statewide, Abbott said. It will employ a team of 4,000 contact tracers that will trace each new case of COVID-19 and inform others that person may have come into contact with to get tested. That will help to “box in the expansion of COVID-19,” Abbott said. That effort will be bolstered by an increase in testing with the goal of conducting 25,000 tests per day, he said.

To reopen the Texas economy, Texans must commit to continuing to practice safe distancing, Abbott said. And the state must rely on doctors and data to inform its actions, he said. Texas must also focus on protecting the most vulnerable to COVID-19, he said

Lastly, entrepreneurs drive the Texas economy and they must be unleashed to restore and revive the economy, Abbott said.

“We are Texans, we got this,” he said.

The Governor’s Strike Force to Reopen Texas report can be found here.

H-E-B and Favor Delivery this week introduced a new service that allows customers to have grocery essentials delivered in two hours or less.

The new service is available at every H-E-B, Central Market, and Jose V’s stores in Texas.

The Favor Express Delivery is in addition to H-E-B Curbside and Home Delivery.

The Favor Express Delivery service allows customers to choose up to 25 items from a selected list of groceries and essentials. All deliveries will be placed on a customer’s doorstep and customers will receive a notification when their order has been delivered.

“This new service is another way H-E-B and Favor are working together to respond to unprecedented demand during this crisis to get Texans the essentials they need, when they need them,” Jag Bath, H-E-B Chief Digital Officer and Favor CEO, said in a news release. “We continue increasing H-E-B Curbside and Home Delivery availability for customers who want to place orders in advance for same day, next day or later — and now, with Express Delivery, Texans can get two-hour delivery on up to 25 items when they need an immediate option.”

The service is available every day from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. via the Favor app or favordelivery.com. For a limited time, Express Delivery includes a $4.98 two-hour delivery fee (regularly $9.95) and $10 tip, which goes entirely to the Runner who will personally shop and deliver items.

The H-E-B and Favor Senior Support Program provides seniors (60+) with delivery of groceries and essentials via its website from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. or by phone 1-833-397-0080, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Texas retail stores are now able to offer curbside service to customers under Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order that took effect on Friday.

And startup entrepreneurs are coming up with tech solutions to make it easier for local retailers to sell and deliver their products safely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To help retailers out, Austin entrepreneur Sterling Smith, founder of Sandbox Commerce, has a solution to take orders and payment through a mobile app that also handles push notifications to coordinate order pickup.

Sandbox Commerce, founded in 2017, sells a software package add-on to Shopify and BigCommerce retailers that allows those customers to easily build a mobile app within 10 minutes using drag and drop software. The app then takes anywhere from a few days to 10 days to be approved for sale in Google and Apple app stores.

“During COVID-19, we’ve seen a big influx of retail customers looking to modernize,” Smith said.

About a month ago, Sandbox Commerce started working on a curbside solution for retailers to handle sales from customers.

In the past, curbside pickup is something that has been restricted to big retailers that have big budgets, Smith said.  For a lot of traditional retailers and brands, this was on the backburner and the pandemic has forced it to the front, he said.

HEB, the San Antonio-based grocery store chain, began offering curbside delivery in 2016 at select stores. It has become a popular service, especially during the pandemic when people are trying to minimize their contact with others and practice social distancing.

Sandbox Commerce has been running a pilot program with a clothing store on Second Street in downtown Austin.

The curbside pickup option on the Sandbox Commerce mobile app will help level the playing field for smaller retailers. But it is also a good option for brands like Yeti that don’t traditionally offer curbside pickup, Smith said.

“These brands that make millions of dollars every year still don’t have an option like this,” he said. “The vast majority of the retail industry does not have solutions like this.”

Sandbox Commerce is offering retail customers a free trial for the first 90 days and then packages start at $99 a month, Smith said.

A lot of small retailers and brands have no idea how to engage with customers right now, Smith said.

FSG Smart Buildings, a division of Facility Solutions Group, on Friday announced the launch of Curb-to-Car, an app to help facilitate and make curbside delivery easy for any store, warehouse, or restaurant.

Set up only takes a few minutes and the on-boarding process is simple, said Justin McCullough, chief innovation and product officer at Facility Solutions Group, which created the app.

Once a business is registered, they can create an account and enter their locations and print their customer check-in Uniform Resource Locator, known as a URL, or web address.

The Curb to Car service acts as a sophisticated ticket number holder in a bakery or a smart beeper system in a restaurant. When a customer gets to a retail site, they see a sign for the custom URL to check-in. They can use their smartphone to go to the website and check-in by providing their name, make, and model of car and any comments. The app then shows the customer on a screen and the retailer is able to track information like how long ago the customer checked in and where they are in the queue. It allows the retailers to keep up to date with all new arrivals.

The Curb to Car app charges $1 a month per location to retailers.

Travis County and Austin City leaders launched a central Texas task force Thursday aimed at safely re-opening businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is no return to business as usual, said Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt.

“This will require adapting,” she said.

Eckhardt spoke during a Thursday morning online press conference coordinated by the Austin Chamber of Commerce, which is spearheading the regional task force. It will provide a “knowledgeable perspective on when and how businesses might be able to adapt and function in a COVID-19 world,” according to a news release.

The task force is made up of small and large businesses in different industries, business membership organizations, and community groups focused on transportation, public health, and safety.

“The work of this task force is to honor public health priorities and focus on how to thoughtfully and safely reopen our regional economy,” according to the news release. The task force members will “evaluate and account for specific needs by industry sector, evaluate the preparedness level of businesses to safeguard public health requirements and best practices, and monitor public health outcomes to determine whether adjustments need to be made and provide feedback to policymakers.”

To date, the greater Austin region has reduced its COVID-19 infection rate by 90 percent, Eckhardt said. “That has kept us within our current hospital capacity,” she said.

“We have not peaked yet,” she said.

Texas has 21,702 cases of people testing positive for COVID-19 and 554 fatalities and 7,341 people have recovered from the disease, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Travis County has 1,263 cases of COVID-19 and 28 deaths and 344 people have recovered, according to the City of Austin.

Projections for the COVID-19 disease, based on computer-generated models from the University of Texas at Austin, show that there is a 64 percent chance Texas has already peaked in the number of deaths from the disease. That chance increases to 89 percent within a week and 96 percent within two weeks.

The UT model also shows COVID-19 mortality projections for the U.S. with a 99 percent chance that the peak has occurred. But that doesn’t mean people are safe. Until there is a vaccine for COVID-19, effective treatment and herd immunity, another spike in infections and deaths could occur, Eckhardt said.

In the U.S. there are 843,981 confirmed cases of people with COVID-19 and 46,859 deaths from the disease, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, the number of COVID-19 cases is 2.6 million and 185,494 deaths.

Governor Greg Abbott on April 17^th announced the formation of a Strike Force to Reopen Texas.  His executive orders call for “selective activities and services that pose minimal to no threat of spreading COVID-19 are allowed to reopen using a “retail-to-go” model” beginning Friday, April 24th. He also loosened certain restrictions on surgeries allowing for healthcare facilities to perform elective surgeries. Gov. Abbott is expected to make more announcements on re-opening the Texas economy on Monday, April 27th.

While deaths from COVID-19 have been reduced because of social distancing, the concern is over not doing anything too drastic like re-opening all businesses at once that might lead to a spike in new cases of COVID-19 and overwhelm area hospitals, said Mayor Steve Adler.

“We have a community that has stepped forward in a selfless way to make everyone safe,” Adler said.

Effective April 13th, Mayor Adler ordered all Austin residents to continue to stay home and shelter in place and to wear a face mask while going out in public until May 8^th.  Travis County issued a similar mandate and other Texas cities like San Antonio and Bexar County have similar orders. The face masks have been shown effective in helping to contain the community spread of the COVID-19 disease.

The regional task force to reopen the economy is being led by Laura Huffman, who just joined the Austin Chamber of Commerce as president and CEO this week. Huffman said she will work with the Governor’s task force members to coordinate how best to move forward to safely re-open the regional economy.

There is a huge need to increase testing for COVID-19 in the U.S., Texas, and in Travis County,  Eckhardt said. Travis County has tested about 6 out of every 1,000 residents since the beginning of the pandemic which is pretty good, she said. But the county needs 8 times that testing capacity to track and contain the spread of COVID-19, Eckhardt said.

The near-term goal is to test 2,000 to 3,000 Travis County residents per week, Eckhardt said. To do that the county has launched a free web-based platform to help residents get a free assessment and free test for COVID-19, she said. The platform will then provide people with their test results and allow them to inform others that they have come into contact with so that they can be tested, she said.

“As we open commerce, we open up the probabilities of infection,” Eckhardt said.

The greater Austin region has a lot more testing capacity coming on, Mayor Adler said. He is striving to provide 5,000 tests per week, he said. Adler has also worked with Everlywell, an Austin-based startup that originally announced plans to provide consumer at-home COVID-19 testing, but has since allocated its testing supplies to healthcare facilities and hospitals.

A big concern about re-opening the economy is about moving too quickly. Travis County cannot go below an 80 percent reduction rate in COVID-19 cases, Eckhardt said. Herd immunity locally would mean thousands of deaths in Travis County, she said.

Mayor Adler said no one knows yet when all of the jobs lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic will return.

The Perryman Group, an economic development analytical firm, projects 64,900 job losses for 2020 for the Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown metropolitan area or almost a 6 percent decline. But the firm projects more than 56,000 jobs added to the area in 2021, up 5 percent.

When asked during a question and answer session with reporters about the difference between Governor Abbott’s task force and Austin regional task force, city leaders said the governor’s task force doesn’t have a lot of representation from local government or small businesses.

Even after the governor announces his rules for the state, communities will be making their own choices as well, Mayor Adler said. And individuals will be making their own choices, he said.

The regional task force will provide written recommendations to city and county leaders by May 8^th, Huffman said. The task force will emphasize transparency in all of its actions, she said.

“We don’t want anything to run interference with the individual companies’ ability to innovate,” she said.

The following is a list of task force members, led by the Austin Chamber of Commerce, to reopen the regional economy:

Tamara Atkinson – Workforce Solutions

Mason Ayer – Kerbey Lane Café/United Way Board Chair

Jason Ball – Round Rock Chamber

Dianne Bangle – Real Estate Council of Austin

Marina Bhargava – Greater Austin Asian Chamber

Veronica Briseño – City of Austin

Joseph Cajas, III – The Cajas Digital Agency/Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber Board Chair

Peter Cesaro – GDHM/Real Estate Council of Austin Board Chair

Derrick Chubbs – Capital Area Food Bank

Randy Clarke – Capital Metro

Beth Corbett – Central Texas Food Bank

Spencer Cronk – City of Austin

Scott Davidson – Code 4 Event Management

Craig Enoch – Enoch Kever/Austin Chamber of Commerce Board Chair

Mark Escott – Interim Health Authority

David Evans – Integral Care

Gary Farmer – Heritage Title Company/Opportunity Austin Board Chair

Tamara Fields – Accenture

Michele Glaze – Samsung Austin Semiconductor

Tina Grider-Cannon – Austin LGBT Chamber

Amber Gunst – Austin Technology Council

Sandy Guzman – AARO

Jeremy Hendricks – LiUNA

John Howard – Dell Technologies

David Jabour – Twin Liquors

Jason Kelley – IBM

Kyle Kerrigan – Upbring Innovation Labs/Austin Young Chamber Board Chair

Rick Levy – Texas AFL-CIO

Mark McClain – SailPoint/Austin Technology Council Board Chair

Editor’s note: This article has been updated and corrected the date for which “retail to go” will be available in Texas. It is Friday, April 24th.