That is an increase of over 26% compared to the week prior, when 9.1% of patients tested positive for the coronavirus on average, the medical center reported on in its daily data dashboard. The seven-day average for testing positivity increased again Aug. 2, hitting 12.1%.
The increased positivity rate comes as daily COVID-19 patient numbers continue to swell in the medical center, where hospitals reported an average of 246 new hospitalizations each day during the July 26-Aug. 1 stretch, up almost 60% compared to the previous week's average of 154 hospitalizations per day. For context, that number of new hospitalizations has not been that high since early February, when the TMC was averaging 254 per day.
The total number of coronavirus patients also continues to increase at TMC hospitals—now at 1,412 total patients, up from the 906 seen July 25.
In addition, coronavirus patients on ventilators now make up 310 out of the 1,354 total patients occupying medical center intensive care units, which span CHI Texas Division, Harris Health System, Houston Methodist Hospital System, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Hermann Health Systems, and UT Health in 9 Houston-area counties. This represents a 70% week-over-week increase in these hospital systems, over the 183 ICU patients seen July 26.
This comes as Harris County reports 64.6% of its eligible population age 12 and older has been inoculated with at least one vaccine dose as of Aug. 2, compared to 62.19% vaccinated in Texas.
