![Photo of Julian Gill](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="100" height="100"><rect fill-opacity="0"/></svg>)
The Texas Medical Center seen from McGovern Lake in Hermann Park on Friday, Nov. 6, 2020, in Houston.
Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographerCOVID-19 hospitalizations have nearly doubled in the Houston area over the last month, according to re-published Texas Medical Center data, which paints a clearer picture of the risk associated with newer, increasingly transmissible versions of the virus.
More from Julian Gill: A young dad clings to his only hope after a destructive COVID infection. It comes with a heavy price.
The average number of daily new COVID-19 hospitalizations rose from 121 in early June to 224 last week, the new data shows. That number is nearly half of the all-time hospitalization peak in early January, when an average of 515 COVID patients were admitted per day, according to the TMC data.
The positivity rate has also seen a dramatic increase in the medical center over the last month, jumping from 8.8 percent in early June to 16.1 percent last week. The citywide number is worse: 29 percent of Houstonians testing for COVID are coming up positive.
The increase coincides with the rise of BA.5, a new subvariant of omicron, which in a matter of weeks took over as the dominant strain in the U.S. First detected in South Africa, the subvariant made its way to the U.S. in early May and now makes up about 53 percent of cases nationwide. In the Houston Methodist system, BA.5 comprises 57 percent of cases, while BA.4, another highly transmissible strain, makes up 19 percent.
Dr. Paul Klotman, CEO and president of Baylor College of Medicine, and Texas Medical Center president and CEO Bill McKeon will give a virtual media briefing on the new data at 11 a.m. today.
“The spread of BA.4 and BA.5 is faster than previous variants, and these variants have acquired two mutations in the spike protein that effect their ability to bind to host cells and avoid immune detection,” according to the media briefing announcement.
The Texas Medical Center has continued to collect weekly COVID data, even though it stopped publishing reports in early May, when the virus was still spreading but hospitalizations remained low.
The dashboard, obtained by the Chronicle and expected to be posted online today, has been updated and now includes Houston wastewater data. Hospitalization numbers have also been updated slightly compared to earlier versions of the data.
julian.gill@chron.com
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