Texas COVID-19 hospitalizations hit a new record

The Texas State Department of Health Services reported Monday a pandemic high of 11,351 hospitalizations for COVID-19.

This exceeds the previous all-time high of 10,893, which occurred on July 22nd.

Check-in comes in the middle of the holiday season. Public health experts are concerned that health problems could exacerbate the virus that is already spreading rapidly and following an increase in cases weeks after Thanksgiving.

These hospital data do not take into account people who have been hospitalized but have not obtained any positive evidence and DSHS states that some hospitals may be missing from the daily count. As of Monday, the state also reports 49 deaths from COVID-19, a lagging indicator of the extent of transmission rates, and more than 12,800 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. Reported cases may have been lower in recent days because some local health departments did not report data to the state during the holiday week.

Earlier this month, Texas ’ICU capacity was already the lowest since the start of the pandemic, leaving health experts concerned that hospitals could reach the limit as cases of coronaviruses continue to increase. Across the state, COVID-19 patients occupy 17.8% of hospital beds in the state, and only 745 staffed ICU beds are available.

At a news conference Monday, Mark Escott, Austin’s interim medical director and health authority, said that this week alone “ICU utilization” has risen 62 percent in Travis County and that hospital beds could reach be scarce in a matter of weeks.

“Our projections for the new year continue to get worse every day,” Escott said. “I think right now it looks like we’re going into 2021 in a state of emergency.”

Meanwhile, health workers at large and small hospitals have begun receiving the vaccine statewide, calling it “a shot of hope” and a “light at the end of the tunnel.” Still, many Texans are wary of receiving the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which have received emergency approval from the FDA after data showed they were about 95% effective. And Texas has not yet detailed how or when prisons and prisons, known hot spots for the spread of coronavirus, will receive the vaccine.

Julián Aguilar contributed to this report.