HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — The spike in COVID-19 cases in Harris County is continuing to increase at an alarming rate.
On Friday, Harris County officials reported the COVID-19 positivity rate has jumped to 9.8 percent. That's up from a low of 5.5 percent in early October.
While the percentage of COVID-19 test results coming back positive in Harris County continues to hover at 9 percent, that number is even higher in some of the region’s most populated suburban counties.
For example, Galveston County reported a positivity rate of 12 percent during the week of Nov. 29. That’s up from 5 percent on Nov. 1.
Montgomery County recently reported a rate of 11.6 percent and Brazoria County stood at 13 percent during the first week of December.
Positivity rates measure the percentage of positive COVID-19 test results at a given time.
At the start of the pandemic, the state health department was measuring the positivity rate using the case reported date and lab test reported date. The problem – positive results from backlogged tests started to put those numbers out of whack.
Now, health officials are only going to calculate the positivity rate based on the day a test was taken.
State officials are also starting to track results from antigen tests, which are the rapid tests that are becoming more popular.
You can track the positivity rate and more COVID-19 measurements here:
The Texas Medical Center is now in ‘Phase 2’ of its ICU occupancy plan. Phase 1 had 1,330 beds and as of Thursday, all of those had been taken, 26 percent of which are being used by COVID-19 patients.
It's important to keep in mind - it's not unusual to hit 100 percent of Phase 1. They typically operate at between 80 and 90 percent of ICU capacity. Phase 2 allows them to make sure patients have a bed and appropriate treatment.