COVID-19 cases in Houston increasing since Texas reopened

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The number of COVID-19 cases in Houston has steadily increased since phase 1 reopening of the state on May 1.

Dr. David Persse with the Houston Health Department said he is concerned about the rise in cases.

"We're seeing the numbers increasing. They're not increasing exponentially. But they're increasing linearly in time with the same steady pace. So the optimizations are in fact, increasing our case counts," said Persse.

When asked if demonstrations and protests could make things worse, Persse said, "If we continue to see the curve going up and if it stays at this linear, the numbers keep going up, but if it stays at this, this sort of same rate of increase then I definitely won't say you can blame the protests, if anything, it's going to be the reopening of society and, you know, people becoming fatigued, if you will, with the, with the precautions we've asked them to take."

Persse wants to stress the danger of COVID-19, "The virus is still in the community and it's still spreading right, people are still being hospitalized. So, there are 219 people with COVID in intensive care units in the TMC hospitals, if they're in the intensive care unit they're mighty sick, there's 219 of them."