HOUSTON — With COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations climbing across the Houston area, KHOU 11 is taking a closer look at what COVID is doing in your neighborhood. Our team crunched the data and found where most of the active transmission is happening right now and what impacts vaccines are having.
And the data do not lie. ZIP codes with the highest vaccination rates have the fewest active cases.
KHOU 11 analyzed 151 Harris and Montgomery County ZIP codes by taking a look at their vaccination and active COVID case rate.
On average 56 percent of residents 12 and older were fully vaccinated, and there are 6.6 active cases for every 1,000 residents.
But when you look at ZIP codes with more active cases, vaccination rates drop to 54 percent.
The exact opposite happens in ZIP codes with fewer active cases. Vaccination rates in these areas climbed to 58 percent.
The urban and rural divide
"I think there is an urban, rural divide," said vaccine expert Dr. Peter Hotez.
That divide is clear on the map. The closer to red, the lower the vaccination rate and higher the case rate. Concerning clusters are mostly around Conroe and east Harris County.
The worst ZIP code right now is 77303 in Conroe. Only 31.5 percent of eligible residents are fully vaccinated, and there are nearly 10 (9.7) active cases per 1,000 people.
"The one thing that emerges consistently is where vaccination rates are low delta is accelerating very quickly," Dr. Hotez said.
The best performing ZIP code is in Houston is 77094. There are 82.6 percent of eligible people fully vaccinated, and there are only three active COVID cases per 1,000 residents.