Harris County coronavirus count: 701 new cases confirmed as hospitalizations hold steady July 8

A little over 700 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Harris County July 8, less than half the number of new cases confirmed the previous day.

The city of Houston confirmed only 204 new cases July 8, down from over 1,000 July 7, a discrepancy that officials attributed to a "computer system slowdown."

We believe a computer system slowdown yesterday is the reason for today’s lower case count. Unfortunately, we do not anticipate this being an indication of fewer positive cases in Houston. #hounews https://t.co/2BrDMqFEQA

— Houston Health Dept (@HoustonHealth) July 8, 2020

Total cases in Harris County now stand at 40,012, with 26,746 active and 12,856 recovered. Testing positivity rates in the nine-county Greater Houston area stood at 12% on July 6, according to the most recent data being tracked by the Texas Medical Center.

Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 patients in Harris County intensive care units stayed largely flat between July 7 and July 8, falling to 708 from 710. The COVID-19 patient count in general ward beds fell from 1,978 to 1,908, making for an total drop in hospitalized COVID-19 of 72. However, the overall count of 2,616 patients on July 8 was still substantially higher than the total one week ago, which was 2,170.

Base ICU capacity remained full across TMC hospitals, and officials reported a slight uptick in the occupancy rates in surge capacity beds, where 34 of 373 beds were occupied. Based on current trends, TMC projects those beds to be fully occupied by July 19, at which point a new wave of temporary ICU beds would be activated.

Four new COVID-19 deaths were confirmed July 8 in Harris County, bringing to total to 411.