Houston Health launches multilingual campaign to help stop spread of COVID-19

HOUSTON – Better Together is a new multilingual campaign by the Houston Health Department to protect Houston families from COVID-19. According to Houston Health, the data-driven public health campaign will provide information to high-risk populations and neighborhoods with high positivity rates.

Starting as early as Friday, the department will begin to go door-to-door within targeted communities, leaving door hangers for residents. The campaign will also spread information through television, radio, digital and outdoor advertising and partner with local groups, faith-based organizations, and other community outlets to share COVID-19 resources.

“We have concluded that we have no choice but to go directly into the neighborhoods, to go door-to-door, to provide the information that people should be receiving,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said.

A few weeks ago, Houston Health launched an emergency outreach campaign reaching tens of thousands of residents, with a focus on the Hispanic community. The campaign included over 10,000 social media ads in Spanish, more than 7,000 fliers, 4,000 robocalls and 70,000 text messages.

Officials said the public health campaigns are apart of an overall mission to curb the spread of COVID-19. The campaigns encourage residents to wear masks in public, maintain social distance, wash their hands, and to get tested.

On Thursday, the Houston Health reported 1,304 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total to 45,415 cases within the city’s limits. The department also announced 15 new deaths from coronavirus-related complications, for a total of 432 deaths. Of those who died, nine were Hispanic, according to Houston Health.

“We are still moving in the wrong direction,” Turner said. “We need to do everything in our ability to slow the progression of the virus.”

While Houston’s positivity rate is around 23%, the goal is to get it down to 5%. Turner said he is hoping to see a shift in August.

“This is the month where we turn this around not just in hospitals but in community,” he said. “If we work together, 30 days from now, we will see a noticeable change.”

Here is Turner’s full press conference regarding Better Together: