The case count increased by 414 on April 7, causing the seven-day average for new cases in the county to fall to 540, which is about where the seven-day average was as of March 26. The seven-day average has been oscillating between the mid-500s and the low 700s since mid-March but has been on a downward trend since April 1, according to an analysis of county data. The number of active cases in Harris County was 11,404 as of April 7, down by about 400 since March 31. A total of 3,755 people have now died from the virus, a number that has increased by 79 over the past week.
The number of patients in Harris County hospitals was 911 as of April 7, according to SETRAC records, down from 993 as of March 31. The number of patients in general wards fell from 756 to 660 over that time, but the number of patients in intensive care units rose from 237 to 251. The 14-day average for testing positivity—the most recent data for which comes from March 31—has reported at around 8.5% since mid-March. The county remains at the highest COVID-19 threat level, severe, indicating that people should be staying home and avoiding unnecessary travel.
At an April 7 press conference, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said the county was getting close to being able to lower its threat level but that several key metrics are still above where they need to be. For one, the 14-day average for the percentage of people with COVID-19 in county ICUs, which hovered around 16% through the first week of April, needs to fall below 15%. In addition, the average for testing positivity needs to fall below 5%, and the average for daily new cases needs to fall below 400, Hidalgo said.
Vaccinations for COVID-19 continue to be distributed to more residents in Harris County, with about 708,000 people fully vaccinated and 1.96 million vaccine doses administered in total, according to state data as of April 7. Those figures are up from 567,000 and 1.1 million at this time last week.
