The active case count hit 29,148 on Nov. 9 after increasing every day since it clocked in at 21,925 on Oct. 17. Prior to that, active cases hit a low point in the 13,000s in early September and were hovering in the low 20,000s to start of October.
The number of new COVID-19 cases confirmed over the week ending Nov. 7 came in at 4,239, on par with the past two weeks and up slightly from the two weeks at the beginning of October. The seven-day average of new cases confirmed in Harris County has been flat as well but ticked up to 667 on Nov. 9 after 625 new cases were confirmed that day, according the Harris County Public Health data. The testing positivity rate continued its slow ascent over the past week with the 14-day average reaching 8.4% as of the most recent data from Nov. 1. The 14-day average has been rising since hitting a low point of 5.6% on Oct. 4. In Texas Medical Center hospitals, that testing positivity rate was at 4.5% as of Nov. 8 and has remained below 5% for 59 consecutive days. The effective reproduction rate—which measures how fast the virus is spreading in the Greater Houston area—was at 1.03 as of Nov. 8. Any number above 1 indicates the virus spread is increasing, though the Nov. 8 figure suggests the rate of the spread has slowed slightly from one week ago when it was at 1.06, according to TMC officials.
The number of COVID-19 patients in Harris County hospitals has been largely flat, according to the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council, though a slight uptick can be seen compared to numbers at the end of September and beginning of October.
A total of 391 COVID-19 patients were in general beds as of Nov. 9, while 200 patients were in intensive care unit beds. Those numbers are up from 366 and 199, respectively, one week ago, Nov. 2, and up from 353 and 171 on the first day of October. The total case count in the county now stands at 167,956, with 29,148 active cases, 136,488 recovered cases and 2,309 deaths.
