HOUSTON — Texas crossed another grim milestone in the fight against COVID-19 on Friday when it surpassed 11,000 deaths from the virus.
The Department of State Health Services reported 4,651 new COVID-19 cases, and 258 newly reported deaths, bringing Texas' total coronavirus deaths to 11,051. The state also added 206 backlogged cases to state total, bringing it to 567,580.
Friday marked the third day in a row of a decrease in the number of backlogged cases added to the state total.
Backlogged test results are working their way through the system and are still affecting the number of new cases and positivity rate reported," DSHS wrote in a tweet.
The state reported new cases of 4,651 on Friday, and 4,923 on Thursday, for a total of 9,574. The last time the state reported two consecutive days with a total under 9,600 was on August 9 and 10, when the total was 9,334, but those numbers were reported on a Sunday and Monday, two of the historically lowest reporting days of the week throughout the pandemic. Prior to that, the last time was on July 5 and 6, when the total was 8,767.
The city of Houston reported 467 new cases and 17 newly reported deaths, bringing the city's totals to 59,871 cases and 696 deaths.
Harris County reported 560 new cases and 10 newly reported deaths, bringing the county's totals to 36,787 cases and 453 deaths.
Houston Health Authority Dr. David Persse said fewer people are getting tested, which affects the public health experts ability to gauge the true spread of the virus.