In the week of Aug. 23-29, Texas Medical Center facilities admitted an average 159 COVID-19 patients per day, a slight decrease from the 179 average patients admitted per day in the week of Aug 15-22 and a 29.33% decrease from the previous month, according to the TMC’s COVID-19 dashboard.

Meanwhile, the city of Houston’s average wastewater viral load was 298% baseline as of Aug. 29—or 2.98 times higher than the COVID-19 viral count of July 2020—an 8.05% decrease from the previous week’s baseline.

During the week of Aug. 24-30, there was an average of 74.7 new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in Harris County each day. New cases trended downward at a rate of 25.5 fewer cases per day between Aug. 17-30, according to Harris County Public Health officials.

Coronavirus positivity rates also declined between the two weeks from 11% to 10.6% across the Greater Houston area, according to the TMC. The positivity rate measures what percentage of COVID-19 tests come back with positive results in the area.

As of Aug. 30, the Texas Department of State Health Services is reporting just over 3 million Harris County residents are fully vaccinated, or 64% of the total population. More than 3.51 million residents are partially vaccinated.


The Harris County COVID-19 threat level is moderate with officials advising vigilance and care to the unvaccinated.