Austin is poised to see a spike in new apartments this year, one of the top cities in the country for new apartment construction.

• And given prices around here, it can't come soon enough.

The big picture: Apartments in Austin and the Sunbelt cities of Phoenix, Raleigh/Durham and Salt Lake City are likely to see a 5% increase or more in new construction, per a national survey by RealPage, a data analytics and property management software provider.

Why it matters: Growth in housing stock in the Sunbelt points to where people are moving — and where the economy is likely to continue thriving.

• About 40% of Americans live in apartments, and there's a huge demand for more.
• Cities that have been attracting workers during the pandemic-era relocation trend are particularly desperate for additional housing stock.

Driving the news: RealPage projects that 426,000 apartment units will be built in the U.S. this year, representing a 30-year high in such activity, Smart Cities Dive reports.

• The push to build apartments in popular cities like Austin and Nashville is "driven by long-term migration trends, pandemic-geographic shifts, 40-year inflation, and deep pockets of institutional investors looking for higher returns," per Smart Cities Dive.
• The South was the only region with positive net domestic migration last year, Smart Cities Dive says, citing Census Bureau data.
• "Florida, Texas and Arizona posted the largest net migration gains among all states," the news outlet said. "They also boast four of the 10 cities with the largest expected inventory growth."

COVID is killing more people per 100,000 in red states than in blue states.

Why it matters: "The COVID-19 pandemic removed any doubt that state policies can affect health outcomes," Virginia Commonwealth University professor Steven Woolf recently argued in JAMA.

Yes, but: Texas, which is pretty red, ranks just outside the top 25 states in deaths per 100,000 residents.

• At least 87,328 Texans have died with COVID.

But, but, but: Texas' largest urban counties, where officials tend to emphasize mask wearing and vaccinations, have among the lowest COVID cumulative deaths per capita within the state, per an Axios analysis.

• Travis, Hays and Williamson counties rank near the bottom in COVID deaths per capita — out of 254 counties overall.
• Put another way: If you live in relatively lightly populated Lampasas County — 90 COVID deaths among its 20,000-odd inhabitants — you're more likely to know someone who has died of the disease than in Travis.

The bottom line: COVID-19 has proven itself to be exhaustingly unpredictable in many ways over the last two years. But there's no doubt that vaccines reduce the risk of dying from the disease.

Read more about the COVID partisan divide

🏀 The University of Texas women's basketball season ended Sunday night with an Elite Eight loss to Stanford in the NCAA tournament. (Horns247)

💉 Overdoses have steadily increased in Travis County for the last three years, with fentanyl deaths tripling from 2020 to 2021. (Austin Chronicle)

🌪 An Elgin teen got a new truck from a Fort Worth-based Chevrolet dealership after video of his red pickup truck being flipped over by a tornado went viral. (KVUE)

⛳️ Former UT golfer Scottie Scheffler won the WGC-Dell Match Play tournament in Austin on Sunday, becoming the world's top-ranked golfer. (CBS Sports)

🏃‍♀️ In her very first Texas Relays, Cedar Park High School sophomore Conde De Frankenberg brought home the gold in the 3,200-meter run. She also was part of Cedar Park's winning sprint medley relay. (Austin American-Statesman)

👋 Nicole here. Sunday marked International Whiskey Day, and I'll raise a glass to that.

I’m not going to pretend to know a thing about whiskey, but I do know that I really enjoy a good old fashioned or a whiskey sour.

Where to go: We rounded up some of the top spots for a good old fashioned — with Twitter's help:

• Ah Sing Den for the "Let’s Have a Kiki."
• Seven Grand Whiskey Bar speaks for itself.
• Drink.Well for their Taylor Swift-inspired take on the old fashioned.

At-home whiskey sour: Nicole’s grandpa serves up a mean whiskey sour, but — don't be mad — his simple recipe doesn't include an egg white.(Frankly, that's too much work when making a cocktail at home.)

• 4 ounces whiskey.
• 2 ounces fresh squeezed lemon juice.
• 1 tablespoon of maple syrup.

Add the ingredients to a glass with ice. Splash club soda on the top. Serve with a maraschino cherry and enjoy.

A recent review from Nicole's grandma: "Your grandfather just made me two whiskey sours, so I'm feeling good!"

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🧐 Let us know where you can find this sculpture — and the very distinguished person it depicts.

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• We'll enter you in our drawing later today for an Axios T-shirt or baseball hat.

We had a great time at the Axios Local retreat in Charlotte late last week but were pleased to touch back down in Texas this weekend.

• Snapped about five minutes before landing, this photo shows just how dry Central Texas is growing.
• At least 40% of Texas is now experiencing extreme drought, per the U.S. Drought Monitor.
• Of note: While the Hill Country is especially parched, conditions just east of I-35 are actually not that far off normal.