HOUSTON — Average new daily COVID-19 cases in the Greater Houston area are down from a mid-January peak, but are significantly higher than pre-holiday surge numbers, according to a KHOU 11 analysis of public health department data.
For the five largest counties in the area -- Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris and Montgomery -- the seven-day rolling average on Jan. 15 was 4,623 daily new cases.
Since then, that combined average has dropped to 3,482, a 24% decrease. Harris County saw the biggest drop -- 32%, with a current rolling average of 2,176 cases compared to 3,199 at the mid-January peak.
Health officials, like City of Houston Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Persse, described the numbers as “getting slightly better.”
But there is a flip side to the data.
Compared to Christmas, the current rolling average is 24% higher for daily new COVID cases across the five-county area.
The rolling daily new case average is 74% higher than pre-Thanksgiving levels and a staggering 316% higher than the week before Halloween.