Houston improves Coronavirus numbers, while state increases

COVID numbers dropping across Harris County

Local hospitalization numbers are continuing to fall across Houston, but Mayor Tuner is still urging folks to be safe.

HOUSTON - The City of Houston is showing lower hospitalizations of new COVID-19 patients, but officials warn we aren’t out of the woods yet.

The numbers show that we are doing a good job. Houston Medical Center reported 100 new Coronavirus patients, showing the downward trend from their single-day record high of 450 new patients in July.

City officials say the proof is in the numbers. The City of Houston didn’t meet its goal of a positivity rate of 5% for the month of August, but we came close at 7.8% compared to 20% in July. When we make the comparison, Houston is doing well, whereas the state positivity rates continue to increase, and are currently at 12.8% according to Johns Hopkins University, and Harris County’s positivity rate is at 10.2%.

But where there are positive strides, there are also some negatives when it comes to communal living spaces like nursing homes. We continue to report outbreaks at those facilities. The latest, Heritage Park of Katy had 14 deaths over the last couple of weeks, 4 of those related to the virus, the other 10 are pending.

Now college dorms are starting to see outbreaks as well. Some students at Baylor University are being asked to “reside in place” after 21 students at Martin Hall tested positive.

On-campus classes will continue. Houston Mayor, Sylvester Turner says we can’t let our guard down and need to continue to follow the CDC guidelines.