Abilene, Bryan-College Station, Laredo has no beds available for ICU

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Health officials in Laredo, one of three regions in Texas that have full intensive care unit beds, are urging residents to stay home and prevent the spread of the coronavirus as city hospitals overflow patients.

“Hospitals are overflowing and capable with the increase in COVID-19 cases. They need to divert patients to autonomous local facilities at this time, “Laredo City Council told residents in an emergency message on Sunday, according to Texas Public Radio. “Lives are at stake. We ask that you stay at home unless absolutely necessary. “

The Abilene and Bryan-College Station areas also had no beds available for ICUs as of Sunday.

He said the Texas State Department of Health Services in a tweet Friday that the pandemic has never been worse in Texas and it has never been easier to capture COVID-19 in the state. The department is “very concerned” about hospital capacity and has stressed that “Texas ICUs can’t take much longer.”

Dr. Victor Treviño, health authority of Laredo in a statement On Saturday, more than 36 patients would be diverted from the emergency department to independent facilities across the city. Laredo’s health department reported about 4,900 cases of coronavirus last week and the area set a record daily recorded infections with more than 2,000 cases on Wednesday.

“We ask the community to stay home and limit the activity to essential purposes,” Treviño said.

Patients with COVID-19 occupy nearly 49% of the hospital capacity in the Laredo region, according to data from the Texas State Department of Health Services. It is a much larger number than any other region of trauma services in the state.

The Abilene and Bryan-College Station areas have frequently reported that no hospital beds have been available in the ICU since mid-November. Health officials in these areas were not immediately available for comment.

“We are not able to keep up with this increase in cases that are positive,” said Dr. Seth Sullivan, an alternative health authority in Brazos County, in late December, according to KBTX. “Definitely, in the last few weeks, it’s been getting worse, and I’m very worried about the next two to four weeks.”

According to the Laredo Morning Times, the Laredo region has led the state in the rate of hospitalized patients receiving COVID-19 treatment since mid-December.

“The amount of diffusion of COVID-19 exceeds the ability to manage hospitalizations resulting from people who (continue) participating in high-risk, high-contact activities,” Treviño told the Morning Times.

Texas has reported more than 1.8 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began. More than 32,000 people in the state have died from the coronavirus since Saturday. Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Texas have been steadily increasing since October, as people traveled on winter vacations, gathered indoors to avoid the cold, and faced “COVID fatigue. -19 “for restrictions and precautions.

In the summer, some Texas hospitals ran out of drugs, beds, and ventilators as they faced a state increase in coronavirus cases. Now, cases across Texas have surpassed the numbers affected in the summer and Laredo is one of many cities facing overflowing hospitals and registering coronavirus hospitalizations.

Austin health officials opened the Austin Convention Center on Tuesday to prevent ICU admissions (which have reached record highs in the area) from overflowing. The UV-Austin COVID-19 Modeling Consortium recently projected that ICUs were expected to reach their capacity soon in Austin.

“The state is on the rise. The state is in crisis, “said Dr. Mark Escott, interim health authority in Austin and Travis County at a news conference in early January.” It seems very clear to us that we will run out of hospital beds and we will have to stretch resources to meet the needs of our community. “

Some emergency rooms in North Texas also have patients because there is no space in the ICU, Dr. Robert Hancock, president of the Texas College of Emergency Physicians, told The Tribune earlier this month. Dr. Justin Fairless, an emergency physician in Fort Worth, said earlier this month that there are coronavirus patients in hospital corridors “because there is nowhere else to put them.”

Treviño has warned that Laredo will become “medically invaded” unless people take steps to stop the spread of the virus, including masks and prevent meetings.

Outreach: The Texas College of Emergency Physicians has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit news organization funded in part by donations from members, foundations, and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters have no role in Tribune journalism. Find a full list here.