Harris County has now seen more than 1,100 new daily cases for three consecutive days after 12 straight days below that threshold. The seven-day rolling average for new daily cases has increased to 1,035 after spending two weeks below 1,000.
As of Aug. 29, the testing positivity rate in Texas Medical Center hospitals remained at just over 6%, slightly lower than where it was one week ago. The testing positivity rate in the nine-county Greater Houston area has fluctuated and was around 10% as of Aug. 27. Hospital officials have said they want to see the positivity rate below 5% for at least two weeks.
The most recent TMC data tracking the spread of the virus as of Aug. 29 showed the spread has been slowing for nearly three weeks. The data gauges how many new people contract the virus from each infected person, a number that has remained below one for 20 consecutive days.
The number of COVID-19 patients in Harris County intensive care units stayed flat over the weekend and remains in the high 200s. The number of patients in general wards dropped to 545 on Aug. 30, down from 583 on Aug. 28 and 686 one week ago on Aug. 23.
Base ICU capacity in Texas Medical Center hospitals was around 94% as of Aug. 29, and roughly 21% of ICU patients had COVID-19.
The total case count in Harris County now stands at 105,757, with 15,925 active cases, 88,511 recovered cases and 1,319 deaths.
