A medical staff member treats a patient in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at United Memorial Medical Center on July 2, 2020 in Houston, Texas. COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have skyrocketed since Texas reopened, bringing intensive care rooms to full capacity and raising concerns about an increase in deaths as the virus spreads.
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Texas had more than 8,000 patients hospitalized with Covid-19 on Sunday, a record number of hospitalizations and one of the highest in the country, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by the Covid Monitoring Project.
The number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 grew 5% or more on Sunday in 23 states, according to a seven-day moving average, according to data compiled by the Covid Tracking Project, an independent volunteer organization launched by journalists at The Atlantic.
Public health experts closely monitor hospitalizations because they can indicate the severity of an outbreak in an area. It is considered a better measure than new cases because it does not depend so much on the availability of evidence.
California, Arizona, Nevada, and Georgia have also seen increasing hospitalizations for Covid-19. Florida only tracks the number of people who have been hospitalized since the start of the outbreak and not those currently in the hospital with Covid-19, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
Coronavirus cases were growing in 36 states in the US as of Sunday, according to a seven-day moving average, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Cases in the US grew by more than 26% compared to a week ago, according to Hopkins data.
CNBC calculates your daily Covid-19 cases based on an average of the last seven days to eliminate fluctuations in daily reports. According to Johns Hopkins, the number of cases may have been reported over the weekend of July 4 and could be reported later in some states.
Texas and Florida reported record surge in coronavirus cases over the weekend of July 4 as state and local governments try to contain growing outbreaks across the Sun Belt. Florida reported Saturday that 14.1% of those tested for the virus were positive, while Texas reported a the so-called positivity rate of 13.1%, both above the target range of 10% for each state.
Hospitals in at least two Texas counties, Starr and Hidalgo, are at full capacity and local authorities are urging residents there to take refuge on the spot and avoid meetings, according to local authorities.
Houston hospitals are on track to be overwhelmed in about two weeks as cases increase, Mayor Sylvester Turner said on CBS ‘”Face The Nation” on Sunday. People of color were being disproportionately impacted, particularly Hispanic residents, he said.
“The number of people who get sick and go to hospitals has increased exponentially. The number of people in our ICU beds has increased exponentially,” said Turner. He added that the main problem facing Houston hospitals is staffing, not a shortage of beds.
“We can always provide additional beds, but we need people, nurses and everyone else, medical professionals, to take care of those beds. That is the critical point right now,” Turner said.
To create space for Covid-19 patients, Governor Greg Abbott suspended elective surgeries in a handful of counties, which include the state’s largest cities: San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, and Austin, respectively.
– CNBC’s Emma Newburger and Tucker Higgins contributed to this report.
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