(Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, right, tours a medical facility that was set up to handle a possible overflow of COVID-19 patients from local hospitals, Saturday, April 11, 2020, at NRG Park in Houston. Jon Shapley, Staff photographer.)
By Dylan McGuinness and Zach Despart
Houston reported 615 new coronavirus cases Thursday — a 62 percent daily increase and the largest single-day spike of the pandemic — as well as two additional deaths as health officials remain hampered by limited testing and delayed results.
Harris County reported 91 new cases and one new death, an African-American woman in her 80s. Countywide, there have been 3,047 confirmed cases and 34 deaths as of Thursday evening. Almost 420 ill residents have recovered.
Mayor Sylvester Turner said half of the new Houston cases came from March tests, with the remaining from the past nine days. The city received a “large volume” of reports electronically from testing labs and hospitals. Backlogs have led to other single-day bursts, as well, including 402 new cases reported on Monday.
The unpredictable lag between a test and confirmed case complicates efforts by epidemiologists to determine whether the virus is reaching its peak here. Houston-area hospitals are bracing for a surge in cases and Harris County by Friday plans to complete a makeshift field hospital next to the Astrodome for use as a last resort.
![Dr. Lisa Ehrlich administers a coronavirus test to Marci Rosenberg in the physician’s parking lot through an open car window. The Bellaire family, growing progressively sicker, tried six times over three weeks to get testing and were turned down each time for lack of tests or not meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria. On March 18 Ehrlich agreed by stretching the rules but said she could only test one person in the family.]()
(As the number of confirmed cases of the potentially deadly virus continues to explode across the Houston region - tripling from 1,000 to more than 3,000 in just the past week - there is mounting evidence that the true scope of the disease here could be far worse than the numbers indicate.
Harris County reported 91 new cases and one new death, an African-American woman in her 80s. Countywide, there have been 3,047 confirmed cases and 34 deaths as of Thursday evening. Almost 420 ill residents have recovered.
Mayor Sylvester Turner said half of the new Houston cases came from March tests, with the remaining from the past nine days. The city received a “large volume” of reports electronically from testing labs and hospitals. Backlogs have led to other single-day bursts, as well, including 402 new cases reported on Monday.
The unpredictable lag between a test and confirmed case complicates efforts by epidemiologists to determine whether the virus is reaching its peak here. Houston-area hospitals are bracing for a surge in cases and Harris County by Friday plans to complete a makeshift field hospital next to the Astrodome for use as a last resort.
(As the number of confirmed cases of the potentially deadly virus continues to explode across the Houston region - tripling from 1,000 to more than 3,000 in just the past week - there is mounting evidence that the true scope of the disease here could be far worse than the numbers indicate.A Houston Chronicle analysis of testing data collected through Wednesday shows that Texas has the second-worst rate of testing per capita in the nation, with only 332 tests conducted for every 100,000 people. Only Kansas ranks lower, at 327 per 100,000 people.)
Turner also announced the two new deaths, for a total of 14 involving Houston residents. One was a white man in his 80s who died March 27. The other was a Hispanic woman in her 70s who died April 2. Like all who have died with the virus so far in Houston, they had underlying health conditions.
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