Texas recorded a daily high of 5,489 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday as hospitals approached capacity in Houston.
The dramatic increase in cases led Governor Greg Abbott to tighten public health restrictions after resisting calls to halt the state’s reopening process.
Cases have steadily increased in Texas since March, but an increase in the past two weeks has fueled concerns about the state’s ability to respond.
To cope with the increase, some adult ICU patients are being treated at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, the fourth largest city in the country.
“Just like that, in Houston, we pediatricians at Texas Children’s Hospital will now begin to see adult patients,” pediatrician Shubhada Hooli tweeted. “I am up for the challenge, but please help us. #WearAMask and stay home. I guess it’s time to remove my giraffe reflex hammer …
Adult patients at the children’s hospital will be treated for serious health problems, including Covid-19. Those who test positive for the disease are being treated in a special isolation unit.
“Texas Children’s is committed to providing additional capacity through the ICU and intensive care beds on our hospital campuses to serve pediatric and adult patients,” the hospital said in a statement.
In response to the admission of adults to the hospital, his gifted chair in tropical pediatrics, Dr. Peter Hotez, tweeted: “We knew this day would come, I thought maybe later this summer or fall, but the exponential increase came a shortly before. “
The Houston, Texas Medical Center, often referred to as the world’s largest medical center, showed that its ICU beds were 97% of normal capacity. The hospital has a maximum capacity of almost 1,000 additional ICU beds if you activate your plans for public health emergencies.
The increase in cases in Texas and the increase in hospitalizations has been accompanied by a higher rate of positive tests. These are cases of indicators that are not increasing just because more people are being evaluated.
The head of the Houston Methodist hospital system, Dr. Marc Boom, wrote in an email to employees on Friday: “It appears we are reaching the tipping point.”
In the email, seen by the Texas Tribune, Boom continued: “If the number of new cases increases too quickly, it will eventually challenge our ability to treat both Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 patients.”
Texas was one of the first states to reopen, prompting Donald Trump to praise the leadership of the Abbott state during the pandemic. At a White House meeting in May, the president said of Abbott: “I trust his judgment.”
Faced with criticism that Texas was reopening too quickly, Abbott had insisted that the state could contain new outbreaks. But the dizzying number of cases has led him to change course.
Abbott tightened the closing restrictions Tuesday, a day after declaring that Texas would remain “fully open for business.”
“We want to make sure everyone enforces safe best practices of wearing a mask, disinfecting hands, keeping a safe distance, but most importantly, because the spread is so rampant right now, there is never a reason you have to leave his home, “Abbott told local KBTX-TV news station on Tuesday. “Unless you need to go out, the safest place for you is your home.”
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