July 22 COVID-19 case totals: Texas sets single-day record with 197 deaths reported

HOUSTON — Texas reported 197 new COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, setting a record for the most deaths the state has reported in a single day.

The last time Texas posted a single-day record for number of deaths was on July 17 with 174.

The Department of State Health Services also reported 9,879 new cases Wednesday, the 12th time so far in July that the state has reported more than 9,000 new cases in a single day.

DSHS reported a seven-day average positivity rate of 14.18 percent as of Tuesday, which includes five days of decrease from the state's peak of 17.43 percent on July 16. Positivity rate shows the percentage of people who test positive for the virus out of all the people tested. 

As more people are tested, an increasing positivity rate would indicate a rapid spread of the virus. A decreasing positivity rate would indicate that as more people get tested, fewer are testing positive.

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In the city of Houston, the Health Department reported 773 new cases, and eight new deaths.

Municipal employees in the public works department, human resources department, as well as civilian employees for the Houston Police Department, and Houston Fire Captain Leroy Lucio have all died in the last week due to COVID-19.

Houston Health Authority Dr. David Persse noted that new daily reported cases are showing a downward trend compared to last week, and while there is a slight dip in hospitalizations, he warned Houston still has a long way to go before the virus is under control.

Data from the Harris County Public Health and Houston Health Department's joint dashboard show:

Week of:

7/1 - 7/7: City of Houston averaged 729 cases per day

7/8 - 7/14: City of Houston averaged 912 cases per day

7/15 - 7/21: City of Houston averaged 721 cases per day

One possible factor in the declining cases could be Governor Greg Abbott's mask order, which went into effect July 3. Two weeks later, on July 17, data from Houston Health Department and Harris County Public Health show a slight decline in the number of new cases.

That correlation does not mean the mask order is the sole cause of the downward trend, but as public health officials have repeated: masks work.

Dr. Persse said the city's positivity rate is 25 percent, and we need to get to 5 percent or lower, as New York City and Boston have done, in order to allow our testing and contact tracing to be most effective.