ICUs are completely full in at least 50 Texas hospitals since COVID-19 boom

Hidalgo County Health Authority Ivan Melendez says it feels right now to get into the COVID-19 units by going through a non-linear version of the five stages of sadness: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance .

“You’re crying,” he told the Tribune. ‘There’s a lady I care for, whom I have known since childhood. … We grew up together, and I know she’s going to die. … It’s the same: ‘We got together for Christmas.’ Now we see the consequences. ”

Across Texas, hospital-intensive care units are being battered as COVID-19 cases continue to increase in a post-vacation boom. Dozens of facilities have reported that their ICUs have been running for weeks or more than 100% capacity, leaving staff overworked and thin.

More than 50 Texas hospitals currently report that their ICUs are 100% full or higher, and a dozen of them have been more than half of the 24 weeks since hospitals began reporting the information in July, according to a Texas analysis Tribune of data released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

For example, the Rio Grande Regional Hospital in McAllen and the HCA Houston Healthcare Medical Center in Houston were more than 100% 23 and 22 weeks, respectively.

Although the hospitalizations in the country appear to be stabilizing due to COVID-19, there is still cause for concern, said Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Health Services. Across Texas, there are about 600 available ICU beds – a fraction of the few thousands that were open in the spring when the pandemic began.

Van Deusen said the pandemic appears to be hitting different regions in waves. Currently, the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio areas are seeing significant increases in COVID-19 cases, according to DSHS data.

Health officials in Laredo have issued emergency warnings urging residents to stay home as local ICUs have reached capacity in the past month. At present, COVID-19 patients occupy almost half of the hospital capacity in that region, according to DSHS data – the highest percentage in the state.

Many cities have had to divert patients to other hospitals as their local ICUs overflow, in addition to expanding and converting beds for the treatment of ICU patients.

Melendez said the available ICU beds cannot be counted the full picture in Texas hospitals because they are constantly adjusting to accommodate more patients. If an ICU is technically full, he said, many hospitals could still convert available beds or units outside that department to provide ICU care.

Stephen Lowry, chief of staff at Hendrick Health, said his hospital in Abilene was used for distraction and bed rest. The plant is currently operating at a capacity of 160%, which is lower than a peak of 180%, he said.

Hendrick Health is the local referral center for 24 surrounding counties, but Lowry said the hospital could not meet the area’s needs because they no longer have room for new patients; they created all the new space they could in the spring before the pandemic struck.

“It’s really frustrating,” Lowry said. ‘You hear stories from outside the community, or family members who may have relatives in one of these remote cities, and they are struggling to get their loved ones to a higher level of care, because not only Hendrick but also many other facilities across the state is full and cannot accept the transfers. ”

Texas Health Fort Worth, one of the busiest hospitals in Tarrant County, hit 100 percent ICU capacity on January 8, according to HHS data. The hospital’s president, Joseph DeLeon, said, like many other medical centers, the Texas Health Resources network tried to ease the pressure by canceling non-critical outpatient procedures.

But so far, measures that helped boost COVID-19 during the summer have not worked as well in the winter, DeLeon said.

‘We thought,’ Well, OK, now we have some experience from back in July, we know quite a bit what it’s going to look like. ‘But the second boom was different. “This time there were many more critically ill patients,” DeLeon told the Tribune. “This time we had a lot more stress on the staff, and a lot more stress on the doctors … it was just a test of endurance.”

Cynthia Simmons is the Arlington Public Health Authority and an emergency physician at Arlington Medical City, which has been 100% or more for weeks. She said Texans need to understand that if they get into a car accident, have a heart attack or do not face other emergencies under COVID-19, a full ICU at the nearest hospital could mean there may not be enough resources are not available.

“We are now at a point where we have so much COVID in our community, that it can be so easily spread that the same things we talked about from day one of public health measures are now really important,” Simmons said. “I know people are tired of it. But it is really very important at this stage that we will continue these measures to save the capacity in our hospitals. ”

Simmons added that people should not procrastinate if they need to, because emergency rooms are skilled in managing both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients, even when they are full.

Simmons and other Texas health workers have expressed hope for the future after the Texas vaccination process began on December 14. Tens of thousands have already received a second dose, although millions of eligible people are still waiting for Texas to receive enough. doses to vaccinate healthcare workers, long-term caregivers, people over 65 and people with certain health conditions containing groups 1A and 1B.

But the ICU bed crisis is far from over. Although hospitalizations are not currently higher in December, a more contagious COVID-19 variant, identified in Harris County on Jan. 7, could increase hospitalizations more sharply as it spreads. While it may not make people sicker or affect the mortality rate, the mutation means the virus can spread faster and infect more people, said Stephen Love, president and CEO of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Board.

“As a result, more hospitalizations, more capacity issues,” Love said. ‘For the next three to four weeks, [it’s] absolutely critical for us to let people know and try to do the word to please do what they need to do to lighten the spiral. ”