HOUSTON — After months of COVID-19 virus levels dropping, wastewater testing in Houston is showing more people are getting infected with the virus.
The Texas Medical Center’s online COVID dashboard is showing a spike in the weekly average of daily new COVID-19 cases, as well.
Dr. David Persse, chief medical officer for the city of Houston, says it’s only a slight increase in cases, so far.
The BA.2 variant of the virus is to blame. At Houston Methodist, the BA.2 variant now makes up 76% of new cases.
“It’s a little early to know what’s going to happen. Whatever is going to happen has started I would say,” said Dr. Persse.
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“The real question is how much immunity do we have in the community from previous infection and vaccination? Is that going to be able to dampen that enough that this doesn’t become a real issue,” Dr. Persse said.
He says there’s no reason to panic. Hospitalizations from the virus remain steady, at very low levels.
However, Dr. Persse does recommend people pay attention.
“BA.2 is very, very contagious. If we start seeing a lot of this, we need to start considering: do you want to start wearing your mask again? Do you want to start thinking about where go again? I would advise people that, certainly if you have medical situation – organ transplant, chemotherapy patient, or you live with someone who has those conditions – I would absolutely recommend you be a little more aggressive in protecting yourself should BA.2 start to spread like we’ve seen in this community before,” said Dr. Persse.
He also says now is the time to get a COVID booster shot since only 37% of fully vaccinated Houstonians have gone back to get an additional dose.