HOUSTON — COVID-19 cases have declined significantly in the Houston area, but the omicron surge pushed levels higher than ever before.
That includes the sheer number of people getting tested. Tens of thousands of people got tested every single day in the Houston area in December and January.
Every time a Houston Methodist patient tests positive for COVID-19, that sample is brought to a biosafety lab in the Texas Medical Center where technicians run even more tests to figure out what variant each patient has.
“We’re the background. Most people don’t really know what we do,” said Jessica Cambric.
Most members of the 10-person team working in the genome sequencing lab at Houston Methodist are fresh out of college.
Cambric is 23 years old.
“I became a biochemist after I graduated. Then my uncle passed away from COVID, so I wanted to be personally involved,” she said.
Being involved has meant working 12 hour days, 6 days a week at times.
During the worst part of the recent wave, the lab handled more than 1,200 COVID-19 samples in a single day. When cases are low, they get fewer than 50 positive tests to process a day.
“Luckily here, we still have fun, and we know we’re helping people. It’s something we very much look forward to,” said Sindy Peña, 23.
The team considers themselves the background of the frontlines. They work hard to help patients who will never even see them.
“Not a lot of people know or understand what we do. Even my parents don’t understand what I actually do,” said Peña.
What they do matters, because figuring out what variant every patient has helps doctors learn more about the COVID-19 virus and predict when another wave is coming.
“We’re never asked to work more than what we were hired to do, but we choose to come on the weekend and choose to work long hours, because we know how it impacts patient care,” said Kristina Reppond.
The genome sequencing lab at Houston Methodist found the very first cases of the omicron and stealth omicron variants in Houston.
They know this wave is waning, but with more variants possible, they are ready to be on the frontlines until this pandemic is over.