Thank you to everyone who joined tonight’s telephone town hall to discuss the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers interim report on alternatives to address flooding (the Buffalo Bayou and Tributaries Study Interim Report).  I am glad that Col. Timothy Vail and Andrew Weber from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Russ Poppe from Harris County Flood Control District listened to you and shared the feedback to date on the Interim Report.

The report is available here for comment and review.  

COVID-19 cases are surging across the country.  Over the past 11 days, the U.S. reported more than 100,00 new cases each day – with the caseload hitting a new record on Friday with 180,000 cases reported.

Texas is leading the nation in coronavirus cases, and this week we became the first state to surpass more than 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases.  Friday was the sixth straight day of increasing hospitalizations across our state.  Here in Harris County, there have been 173,436 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with 12,796 active cases and 153,280 recoveries.  The positivity rate is at 7.8 percent. 

ABC13 analyzed Harris County COVID-19 data and these are the takeaways:

• Harris County officials reported more than a thousand new cases a day Thursday, with another 800 reported Friday. That's a new case reported every one to two minutes.
• Someone dies of coronavirus every two hours.
• Across Texas, now reporting more than 1 million cases of COVID-19, a new case is diagnosed every 8 seconds. A death from the virus is reported every 12 minutes.

As we plan for the holidays, we have to keep in mind that we are still battling COVID-19 – and we can only stop the spread through collective action.  While there are signs of hope, with increasing knowledge of how the virus spreads and with a vaccine in the pipeline, we must continue to do our part by wearing masks, social distancing, and following public health guidelines.

Harris County Public Health (HCPH) announced this week that it will conduct random COVID-19 antibody testing to get a better picture of how many of our neighbors have already been infected by the virus.  HCPH has put together an outreach team ready to deploy to various county areas to administer the test from 8 am to 5 pm from November 15 through December 15.  Participation in the survey is voluntary, but only those that are approached by the team will be eligible to participate in the survey.

If you are concerned about your status, testing is available throughout Houston and Harris County. 

As a reminder, my team and I are here for you!  We are glad to help with all kinds of things – some of them ones you might not think to call us about.  For example, getting a passport. 

Let us know if you need help navigating the passport process, the IRS, Veterans Affairs, or anything else.  You can start the process online here or by calling us at (713) 353-8680.

I am back in Washington this week.  Please don’t hesitate to call me to share your thoughts and concerns or to let me know how we can help!  You can email here, or call my office at (713) 353-8680 any time.

I am proud to represent you, and I am here to help you.

Best wishes,