The COVID-19 hospitalization rates exceeded 20 percent this past weekend in the 9 county region that includes Southeast Texas. Governor Abbott’s October order specifies that seven straight days at or above 15 percent will trigger a business rollback from 75 to 50 percent capacity and the closure of bars. The region avoided a rollback last week when the percentage of COVID patients in all hospital beds combined, including regular and ICU, dropped just below 15 percent after approaching 7 days at that level. Southeast Texas is in the Trauma Service Area R region which includes Jefferson, Hardin, Orange, Jasper, Newton, Chambers, Liberty, Galveston and Brazoria Counties.