covid on the rise

Texas Medical Center ICUs at 97 percent capacity due to COVID-19

Houston, Methodist Hospital exterior, August 2017

Med Center hospitals such as Houston Methodist are near capacity in their intensive care units.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Houston must act now to address the COVID-19 crisis as more and more people continue to test positive.

She referred to the color-coded COVID-19 threat level system she introduced a few weeks ago. She said the county is now at level two, which is orange. The next level is one.

"The reason I have not yet put us on red and come out with the new steps is because I'm having those conversations with the state trying to get to a place where our restrictions will be enforceable," explained Hidalgo. "If they're not, then I will come back and just issue recommendations, but I know that will be less effective."

She hasn't said what the restrictions or recommendations would be, but she hopes to have more guidance from the state in the next couple of days.

This comes as hospitals across the Houston area near capacity.

Both LBJ and Ben Taub are transferring patients from the emergency areas to other hospitals. Both hospitals reported high capacity before the pandemic.

On Wednesday, the numbers were telling. LBJ'S ICU capacity was at 120 percent while Ben Taub's was at 88 percent.

Meanwhile, UMMC said it's at 85 percent capacity for its COVID-19 unit. This comes after the hospital added 12 beds to their unit. Plus, as of June 23, 97 percent of ICU beds were occupied at the Texas Medical Center.

While only 27 percent of the ICU beds are occupied by COVID-19 patients, data suggests ICU capacity could be exceeded in two weeks.

To learn more, visit the Texas Medical Center's website.

Hospitals tell CultureMap news partner, ABC13, that they have surge plans in place.

"If we need to surge to greater numbers than we normally would in our ICUs, what do you need? You need the physical beds," said president and CEO of Houston Methodist, Dr. Marc Boom. "You might need ventilators, you need supplies and equipment and you need personnel. Every one of those has its own dynamics but we've been planning."

But there is some good news: Boom said many of the patients that are hospitalized are younger and their stays don't require them to be placed in the ICU. Plus, medical workers are learning more about how to better treat COVID-19 patients.

---

For more on this story, including video, visit our news partner, ABC13.

health city-news-roundup

H-Town rising

Houston leaps back into top 50 'World's Best Cities' list for 2025

Photo by Adrian Newell on Unsplash

Houston made a big leap back into the top 50, ranking No. 40, after previously plummeting into No. 72 last year.

Lively Houston has regained its rightful place among the top 50 best cities in the world, according to a prestigious new report by Resonance Consultancy.

The Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing advisors ranked Houston the 40th best city worldwide for 2025 in its annual "World's Best Cities" list.

The report quantifies the relative qualities of livability, "lovability," and prosperity for the world's top 100 cities with metropolitan populations of 1 million or more. New to the 10th anniversary edition, Resonance partnered with global market researchers Ipsos to include perception-based data into the rankings, surveying over 22,000 people in 30 countries worldwide to determine "the most desirable places to visit, live or work."

Houston made a major rebound after plummeting to No. 73 in last year's report. In 2022, Houston ranked No. 42.

Resonance refers to its previous "World's Best Cities" reports and its 2024 "America's Best Cities" list – which ranked Houston in the top 10 – when explaining the Bayou City's successes. The report praised Houston's vast cultural diversity and placed a great focus on its economic prosperity, even going so far as to suggest Houston residents make more money "and can sock more away."

"...[W]here America’s fourth-largest city truly takes off is in its economic heft and wealth, ranking No. 9 globally for GDP per Capita and No. 14 for Fortune 500 companies in town," the report said. "All that rolls up into an overall Prosperity index ranking of No. 36, which is even more impressive given the No. 14-ranked Price-to Income Ratio [of the city]."

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin and Dallas also earned spots on the World's Best Cities list for 2025, but only one made a similar rebound from the previous year's rankings. Dallas moved up from No. 66 in last year's report to its current rank as No. 55. Meanwhile, Austin took its first tumble out of the 43rd spot (which it had occupied for two years straight) and now ranks No. 53.

London held onto its crown as the No. 1 best city in the world for 2025, followed by New York (No. 2), Paris (No. 3), Tokyo (No. 4), and Singapore (No. 5).