Texas confirms three new coronavirus cases in Houston area - The Texas Tribune

Local officials confirmed four new cases of the new coronavirus in Harris County throughout the day Thursday, according to news releases and the Houston Chronicle. The new confirmed cases came one day after a man tested positive for the virus in neighboring Fort Bend County.

The Chronicle reported that all five patients had traveled together to Egypt and were exposed overseas, not in the Houston area.

"There is no evidence of community spread," health officials said in a news release disclosing the fourth Houston-area case.

According to health officials, three of the newest patients live in an unincorporated part of northwest Harris County. The fourth patient whose case was disclosed Thursday lives in Houston, the Chronicle reported.

The first 11 cases in Texas were among people who caught the COVID-19 disease overseas and then were brought to the San Antonio Lackland Air Force Base for quarantine.

“Since January, we have been at an elevated level of readiness to prepare for and respond to a positive case here in Harris County,” Harris County Public Health Executive Director Umair Shah said in a statement. “We will continue to take action by identifying potential contacts and monitoring them closely.”

One of the cases is associated with Rice University, according to Harris County Public Health.

Rice said it was notified Thursday that a university employee who has been self-quarantined tested positive for COVID-19. The individual was exposed to the coronavirus while overseas, in a country not on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s restricted travel list, the university said. It previously asked 14 people that the employee had contact with — including doctoral students, faculty and staff — to self-isolate as a precautionary measure. They have been notified of the test result, are still self-quarantined and have not reported symptoms to date, the university said.

“The affected employee's presence on campus was limited to one building, which has been extensively and continuously sanitized along with the rest of the campus,” Rice said in an online alert. “Based on our investigation, the staff member had no direct contact with our undergraduate population and has not been in any residential colleges or classrooms since returning to Houston Feb. 20.

“The employee's contact with the Rice campus was limited and occurred Feb. 24 to 25. Rice public safety officers learned of the case Saturday and took immediate action to ensure the safety and well-being of those involved and the broader Rice community, including undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff,” the university said.

Rice is not planning to suspend campus operations or classes at this time, and the university is “working closely with Harris County Public Health and the Houston Health Department to manage the situation,” the alert said.

On Wednesday, a man in his 70s who recently traveled abroad and lives in the Houston area became the state’s first coronavirus case identified outside of a Texas quarantine site. He has been hospitalized and is in stable condition.

Earlier this afternoon, state health officials said that six Texas public health labs are capable of testing for the new coronavirus. Another four labs are expected to begin testing nose and mouth swabs from patients to determine if they have the virus, Gov. Greg Abbott said, but testing capacity remains limited.

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