Harris County and COVID during 2020
A story in images and graphs
Harris County, Texas
Harris county is the largest county by population in Texas. In 2021 the population measured 4.728 million people. It is also one of the most diverse in the nation.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit all of Harris County, but there were many communities, most of which were people of color, in which COVID-19 had a disproportionate impact on.
Lyons Unity Church
Lyons Unity Church is located in a historically Black neighborhood of Houston. It's also located in the Fifth Ward, where COVID has hit hardest.
This area of Harris County has not only had to contend with COVID-19 but routinely suffers exposure to environmental contaminants and cancer causing volatile agents from the industrial soil found near the Union Pacific Railroad.
Harris County reaches Severe level for the first time ever
In June 26, 2020 Judge Lina Hidalgo raised the threat level to " Level 1 (red): Severe and uncontrolled transmission of COVID-19." and issued a Stay at home guidance amidst uncontrolled rising cases of COVID, in a effort to curb incidence of new cases.
This was in response to cases doubling in number from June 8th, 2020 and new cases incidence of 1,200 per day for 5 consecutive days.
Pasadena, Texas
The industrial city of Pasadena, Texas, part of Harris County was also an area that saw disproportionate impact of COVID-19 in 2020.
The death rate in this city was more than three times that of all of Harris County in November, 2020.
East End Neighborhood
The East End neighborhood of Harris County also saw very high infection and death rates from COVID-19. Many of the people that reside in the area were essential workers or reside in multigenerational families.
Case Data
The Harris County Public Health and Houston Health Department have been reporting COVID-19 cases since early March, 2020. The images and story map focus on the impact of COVID in November, 2020 in the early stages of the pandemic when testing was becoming available. One can see that as of November 2020, the new cases rates increased between November 2020, and February, 2021. However, the true incidence of cases is hard to estimate since not everyone was able to test, or voluntarily tested and reported their case to their doctor or to the county.
Because many of the areas of Harris County like the Fifth Ward, where Lyons Unity Church is located, or Pasadena, Texas where many of it's residents are service workers or reside in multigenerational families, these areas saw a disparity in COVID-19 cases and deaths. Consequently, the government of Harris County opened many cites across the county offering free testing including FQHC's and opened an emergency response website where residents could look for free testing sites, and starting in January, 2021, register for the COVID-19 vaccine ( COVID-19 Services and Resources | Houston Health Department) . Harris County also implemented vaccine guidelines in early 2021 that gave priority to frontline workers, people over 65, and people with special medical conditions.
As you can see from the case data, we are able to distinguish the different peaks of new COVID-19 strains and high risk dates (holidays), in the COVID-19 aggregated reported cases. The Delta strain in June 2021 and Omicron in November 2021.
The data dashboard continues to track new and old COVID-19 cases, which can be used to prepare for the next pandemic - predicting infection trends, high need areas, testing sites, etc. Even though the rates seem low, this is probably due to people's apathetic view of testing and reporting, undetected reinfections, and vaccinations.