Experts in the News

Health economics fellow Vivian Ho said that she suspects a drop-off in testing stemmed from frustration with how long it took to get an appointment for test, or with sitting for hours in drive-through lines. “You were only going to do that if you were super sick,” she said.

In an article about the growing strains on area hospitals, health economics fellow Vivian Ho noted that Houston's public hospitals, Ben Taub and Lyndon B. Johnson, do not have the financial resources to convert random areas into ICUs. “The problem is that, of course, there are going to be more patients who are going to be going to Ben Taub” because the virus is disproportionately affecting Black and Latino people in low-income communities, and Ben Taub is traditionally the safety net for those without health insurance.

Health economist Vivian Ho joined Houston Matters to discuss how the recent spike in Covid-19 cases is straining area health care providers.

In the past month, Houston has experienced a steady doubling in the number of daily coronavirus cases, health economist Vivian Ho said, a trend that could be exacerbated by protesters who are not wearing masks. “If significant numbers of people fail to heed public health guidelines, I’m concerned that Houston could suffer an even larger outbreak in June. And that outbreak would disproportionately harm the communities that have suffered the most from police brutality.” 

“It’s devastating for the families that won’t be able to get the care they need,” said Vivian Ho, the James A. Baker III Institute Chair in Health Economics and the director of the Center for Health and Biosciences. “Many are going to try to tough it out on their own, and they could get really ill.”