Military doctors, nurses, and specialists have been dispatched to assist overwhelmed hospitals in California and Texas as coronavirus cases continue to rise.
According to the military’s health news website Health.mil, 580 Army and Navy medical support personnel have been called to help Texas hospitals deal with the record number of coronavirus cases .
Texas reported nearly 22,000 new cases daily in the past 48 hours along with 239 deaths, the highest number of reported cases and deaths since the pandemic began.
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“COVID-19 is spreading in the workplace, it is spreading in families, at parties and gatherings,” Texas Health Commissioner John Hellerstedt said Friday.
An additional 85-person Army medical team was dispatched to help take over a medical wing at a Houston hospital.
“I am grateful to our federal partners in the Department of Defense for sending these teams to the Valley and working within the community to protect public health and combat this virus,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement earlier this week. .
The Republican governor established a mask mandate earlier this month, a policy at odds with other Republican governors and President Trump, who faced backlash this week for refusing to reinstate the blockade measures.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo have urged the governor to apply closure measures in Houston, the city with the highest number of coronavirus cases in the state.
“Listen, there is no lockout right now,” Abott said Tuesday on a local WBAP radio show.
Texas, along with another Sunbelt state, Arizona, have also had to call refrigerated trucks to help with the morgue overflow.
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Several states in the United States have seen record spikes this week, contributing to the record death rates the country is seeing.
The daily average of new death rates in the past week increased 34 percent from two weeks ago, and the new daily case count also increased 43 percent, over the same time period.
The state of California has requested that 160 Air Force medical staff members be placed in different intensive care units across the state, as the number of new patients and deaths has broken records in recent weeks.
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California, which reported 258 deaths in the past 48 hours along with nearly 20,000 new cases, the largest two-day total in confirmed cases, has said the hospital’s capacity remains manageable, but medical personnel are urgently needed.
“I think people mistakenly think that hospital capacity is about beds and space,” said Carmela Coyle, president and CEO of the California Hospital Association. “It is much more than a mattress and a pillow. The most important resource is the people who care for the patients. “
Associated Press contributed to this report.
