HOUSTON — In one of the busiest intensive care units in the Texas Medical Center, there's a glimmer of hope that social-distancing efforts are paying off.
“Seems like with the mask mandate in Houston, and people starting to pay attention to what we need to do, which is social distancing and mask-wearing, that we're seeing the downstream effects in the ICUs," said Dr. Bela Patel, of Memorial Hermann and UTHealth.
She’s the head of the ICU in the Texas Medical Center. Patel says Memorial Hermann is starting to see decreasing numbers of patients in their ICUs. She said they've seen about a 10% decrease in the past two weeks. But, she cautions, they’re still full.
"We have lots of patients on ventilators, lots of patients who are continuing to need ICU care," she said.
Patel worries what the next few weeks will bring as the school year begins.
“I think I am concerned with going back to school and with that affecting our positivity rates,” Patel said.
She says we can't let down our guard.
“This virus is still very prevalent in Houston. Our positivity rates are still high. We need to keep driving down those positivity rates before we can take any break in our new normal," Patel said.
Great news if you watch TV with an antenna
KHOU has just upgraded its technology. If you were unable to receive KHOU with your antenna in the past, try again on channel 11.11. You may have to rescan your channels for it to work – if that’s the case, we’ve got some instructions at KHOU.com/antenna. If you already see KHOU on 11.1, you may now ALSO see it on 11.11 – it’s the exact same programming. We’re really excited to be able to bring our KHOU 11 News, CBS shows and sports, Wheel of Fortune, Ellen and Great Day Houston to more homes around the area. If you’re still having trouble, please contact us here and we’ll try to get you set up.