“Pretty much everybody has been in a crowd at some point and that’s where they think they got it,” said Dr. David Persse of some Houstonians now sick with COVID-19.
HOUSTON — In a tweet today, the Houston Health Department confirms cases of COVID-19 are on the rise, again.
Dr. David Persse, the Health Authority for the City of Houston said contact tracing leads doctors to believe it’s crowded events that are helping to spread omicron, the highly-contagious variant of the virus.
“The positivity rate for the City of Houston is up to 23.9% and that’s continuing to rise,” said Dr. Persse who confirmed the positivity rate in June 2022 is higher than what it was in June 2020.
So why isn’t the City of Houston sounding the alarm like it did two years ago?
“Well for a couple of reasons,” said Persse. “One is the hospitalizations are remaining low. We believe that the reason that a lot of people aren’t requiring hospitalizations is because people have partial immunity.”
Which can come from either becoming vaccinated against the virus or through contracting COVID-19 earlier in the pandemic.
“For that reason, we’re not ringing the alarm bells yet,” Persse said.
Persse said the number of people who are infected now and therefore spreading the virus makes the spread rate very high in the community.
It’s high in Galveston County too.
Last Friday the Galveston County Health District used social media to warn of high community spread.
COVID CASES ARE⬆️ | The City of Houston says it’s #COVID19 Community Level is currently HIGH. The Houston Health…
Posted by Melissa Correa KHOU on Monday, June 27, 2022
You can now test yourself for COVID-19 from the comfort of your own home.
The U.S. government will mail all eligible residences eight free at-home COVID tests. The federal program is now on its third round of free at-home testing.
The kits are also free at pharmacies when you show them a copy of your health insurance card. In-person COVID-19 testing sites are also still available across the Houston area.
Prescription medication is now available to treat COVID-positive patients and vaccines are available for everyone 6 months or older.
“Once you get the booster shot, it takes about two weeks for it to really kick in,” said Persse who added that the one takeaway for summer 2022 is, “being smart and thinking ahead, and paying attention is really the key to all this.”
Melissa Correa on social media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
