Coronavirus

Houston Surpasses 100,000 Total Covid-19 Cases

We break down the numbers.

By Catherine Wendlandt December 7, 2020

Image: Courtesy of Lightspring/Shutterstock.com

And just like that, we’re at 100,000. On Sunday, December 6, the Houston Health Department reported 1,333 new cases of Covid-19, which brought the city’s total to 100,907. While it should be noted that only 8,795 are currently active, that total is still staggering.

For most people, Covid-19 became a reality, and not just a mysterious virus ravaging far-off places, on March 11, the day RodeoHouston was shut down. On that day, the Houston area had only 14 presumed cases of the coronavirus—people hadn’t even begun referring to it as Covid-19 yet.

Up until that point, officials had refused to cancel the event. Rumors began to swirl, and debate became heated, on March 6, when Austin cancelled its South By Southwest festival. People began calling for the Rodeo to follow suit, the infamous run on toilet paper began (yeah, remember that?), and one Houston restaurant even threatened to kick people out if they so much as coughed. But still the Rodeo continued to draw thousands to NRG.

Then came March 11, and Montgomery County reported its first non-travel-related coronavirus case, confirming something we know all too well now: community spread. And that spelled the doom for the 2020 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Now it’s nearly nine months later, and those 14 presumed cases have increased exponentially to numbers we could not have comprehended back then. Hell, it’s hard enough to comprehend them now. We took a look at the numbers* over the past year and broke them down for you.

*Note: All data is as of December 6.

How do Houston’s case numbers shake out month-to-month?

March–April: 3.70 percent

May: 3.88 percent

June: 13.19 percent

July: 27.31 percent

August: 17.26 percent

September: 9.74 percent

October: 11.70 percent

November: 13.22 percent

Image: Catherine Wendlandt/Google Sheets

These percentages were calculated based on Covid-19 numbers released each month by the Houston Health Department, which were then reported by Houstonia here.

Do young people really make up most of the cases?

80-plus: 2.48 percent of cases (although this age group accounts for about 27 percent of the total deaths)

70–79: 4.07 percent

60-69: 8.74 percent

50-59: 13.41 percent

40-49: 15.89 percent

30-39: 20.75 percent

20-29: 21.44 percent

10-19: 8.74 percent

0-9: 4.47 percent

Image: Catherine Wendlandt/Google Sheets

This data comes from Harris County Public Health.

Where are the worst-hit neighborhoods in Harris County (by ZIP code)?

According to the Houston Health Department’s 2019 Morbidity and Mortality report, a person’s ZIP code plays more of a factor than genetic code when it comes to health and life expectancy. In fact, according to the report, people living in wealthier neighborhoods have a life expectancy of up to 18 years higher than people living in poorer neighborhoods.

Plantation Lakes (77449): 5,658 total cases
Bear Creek (77084): 5,434 total cases
Sharpstown (77036): 3,790 total cases
Northshore/Cloverleaf/Port of Houston (77015): 3,005 total cases
Alief (77072): 2,868 total cases
Cypress (77433): 2,956 total cases

This data comes from Harris County Public Health.