Texas has a 7,200 ICU bed capacity.
Of those beds, 4,400 - or 61% - are filled w/NON-Covid patients
This, btw, is about average, for TX ICU occupancy.
18% (currently) are Covid
So, we are at 79% of ICU bed capacity, with and additional 2 - 3 K beds that can be turned into ICU beds, if needed.
This info is per Dan Patrick, who was on Varney & Co, this a.m.
Also....the surge, in Harris County hospitals (and other areas) is, imo, directly related to the Floyd protests.
(I posted, earlier, on another thread)
Texas Children’s PEDIATRIC Hospital is taking in overflow from these indigent hospitals.
....The safety net hospital system, which treats many of the roughly 1 million uninsured or underinsured residents in Harris County, was treating high volumes of patients prior to the recent spike in cases, said Harris Health President and CEO Dr. Esmaeil Porsa. Now, Harris Health is taking steps to ensure its hospitals can sustainably weather the surge in hospitalizations.
“Our ICUs are already overwhelmed, and that’s the reason why we are going through our next level of surge planning,” Porsa told the Houston Business Journal.
Harris Health has 94 ICU beds between Ben Taub and LBJ, and the hospital system is working to convert some of its 395 adult medical/surgical beds into ICU beds to handle the surge. But Harris Health needs additional ICU nurses to staff those beds, Porsa said. Harris Health has pulled employees from other non-acute areas to address shortages, but staffing is a concern, he said.
“If somehow, magically, there’s a group of 10 or 20 ICU nurses that I can have, then I can transform more of my beds into ICUs,” Porsa said.
Harris Health has also been transferring patients to other Houston-area hospitals to free up capacity. In a June 25 virtual news conference, Texas Children’s Hospital President and CEO Mark Wallace said that his hospital had taken transferred patients from Ben Taub and LBJ. Earlier this week, Harris Health transferred around 60 patients to larger hospital systems within 48 hours, Porsa said....
(HBJ link/subscription only.)
“... .the surge, in Harris County hospitals (and other areas) is, imo, directly related to the Floyd protests.”
This, it cannot be shouted out loud enough. No politician seems to want to even get close to mentioning this very salient FACT.
It is ironic that the ferals that were running around in close groups destroying other peoples businesses are very likely the ones that are getting sick today and driving up the case numbers. If I were vindictive I would hope that the ferals really do get sick, very very sick, so sick that a bullet thru the brain case sounds like a reasonable thing.