Harris County coronavirus count: Active cases at lowest point since mid-November

The number of active COVID-19 cases continued to fall over the past week, reaching the lowest point recorded by the Harris County Public Health Department since mid-November.

The total number of active cases as of March 10 was 13,248, according to county data. The total has been steadily declining since it surpassed 51,000 around the end of January.

The number of patients in Harris County hospitals with COVID-19 is also declining, while the testing positivity rate has plateaued after briefly trending upward.

A total of 953 COVID-19 patients were confirmed in the county's general wards as of March 10, while 341 were confirmed in intensive care units, according to the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council. Those figures are down from 979 and 367, respectively, as of March 3.

The percentage of ICU patients who have COVID-19 has fallen to 20%, nearing the 15% benchmark county officials have set as a goal to stay under for two consecutive weeks.

The 14-day average for testing positivity hit 12.8% as of the most recent available data from March 2—down from a recent bump to 13.2% as of Feb. 25, but up from mid-February, when the positivity rate was hovering around 12%. The average testing positivity rate over time is adjusted regularly as some test results may lag by several days.

Another 517 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Harris County on March 10, including 264 in the city of Houston and 253 in the rest of Harris County outside of the city. The overall county has confirmed fewer than 1,000 cases in four straight days, which caused the seven-day average for daily cases to drop from just over 1,500 as of March 3 to 839 as of March 10.

The total case count in Harris County now stands at 360,938, including 13,248 active cases, 344,261 recovered cases and 3,411 deaths.