Harris County Commissioners hold 'first in-person meeting' since start of pandemic

The Harris County Commission held its first in-person meeting in Houston in over a year, a sign that the COVID-19 pandemic is easing.

The meetings had been held via computer virtually since March 2020 during the height of the pandemic.

"After months of virtual meetings, I'm looking forward to our first in-person meeting of Commissioners Court tomorrow, brought to you by vaccines," Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in a tweet.

Safety precautions are still in place. Masks are still required and visitors to the court are still to be subjected to temperature checks. The meetings of the commission will continue to be livestreamed via computer for the benefit of those not able to attend in person.

A report in Click 2 Houston said capacity in the courtroom will be limited to 75% attendance.

Hidalgo was quoted in the Click 2 report saying the in-person sessions could be resumed thanks to the diligent efforts of residents to practice safe behavior during the pandemic.

“Today, first in-person commissioners court meeting since COVID started and that’s really a testament to each and every resident of this community who’s done their part,” she said. “I think it’s safe to say at this point we’ve avoided the very worst of COVID, which so many other communities did have to face with their hospitals getting overwhelmed. We got very close to that but we never crossed that line and our numbers continue to trend in the right direction to where we were able to return to normalcy in this sense.”

According to the report, Harris County has achieved 55% of residents with one shot of the virus vaccine and 44% fully vaccinated.

A report in KHOU 11 said the county’s positive rate for coronavirus cases had dropped to just 55 during the week of June 9, or a rate of 5%, the lowest in a year. The county is in the yellow tier, which allows government services to run at 75% of normal.