The seven-day rolling average for new cases per day fell from about 1,056 on Aug. 14 to 928 on Aug. 16, the first time it has fallen below 1,000 since mid-July. Meanwhile, the testing positivity rate was at about 8.6% in Texas Medical Center hospitals as of Aug. 15. That number is down from about 10.5% one week ago, but still higher than the target of less than 5% that medical center officials have set for what would constitute "community control" of the virus.
The number of patients with COVID-19 fell to 732 in Harris County's general wards on Aug. 16 and 430 in intensive care units, down from 1,002 and 497 one week ago, respectively, according to data being tracked by the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council. In Texas Medical Center ICUs, base capacity was about 98% occupied as of the most recent update on Aug. 15.
The death toll in Harris County surpassed 1,000 over the weekend with 40 new deaths confirmed to have been caused by COVID-19. Due to a lag in confirming the cause of death, many of the deaths confirmed over the weekend took place in late July or early August.
The total number of cases in the county now stands at 92,253 with 27,622 active cases, 63,577 recovered cases and 1,052 deaths.
