Hidalgo issues recommendation for Harris County residents to 'get vaccinated and mask up for vulnerable populations'

It has been more than 500 days since Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo issued a disaster declaration in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since then, the City of Houston and Harris County have combined for more than 5,000 COVID deaths, according to ABC 13 News. 

In response to rising numbers of COVID cases, Judge Hidalgo upgraded the county's threat level from yellow "moderate" to orange "significant" and announced a recommendation that all Harris County residents, vaccinated or not, wear masks indoors again. 

"Today marks 500 days since I first signed the Disaster Declaration for COVID-19," Judge Hidalgo wrote in a July 23 Twitter post. "In 500 days, we’ve come too far and sacrificed too much to let the virus get the best of us. We have the tools: Get vaccinated and mask up for vulnerable populations."

At a recent press conference, Hidalgo said that most of the cases are of the Delta variant which makes up more than 84% of current cases in the Houston area and that numbers are likely to double every two weeks, Eater Houston reported.

“Over the past few weeks, the region has been hit hard by the Delta variant,” Hidalgo said, according to Eater Houston. 

Hidalgo said that more than half of Harris County’s population has been vaccinated, but the rise in numbers is from “the unvaccinated that are interacting as though they are vaccinated.” 

She urged Houstonians to get vaccinated as quickly as possible and to encourage others to get vaccinated as well. She noted that even vaccinated people could transmit the Delta variant when unmasked.

“Now I need you to wear your mask again,” Hidalgo said, according to Eater Houston. 

Approximately 350,000 people regionwide have been fully vaccinated. Visitors can find updated metrics and vaccination info by visiting the Harris County Public Health Department.