Texas hospital overwhelmed by coronavirus may send some patients home to die


Government and health officials in Starr County announced this week that they are creating committees to review patient cases at Starr County Memorial Hospital in the city of Rio Grande.

At least 50% of patients admitted to the hospital’s emergency room have tested positive for Covid-19, Dr. José Vásquez, the county health authority, said at a press conference earlier this week. .

“The situation is desperate,” he said.

This rural South Texas county began seeing an increase in positive cases about a month ago, Vasquez said, and the hospital admitted its first Covid-19 patient at the time.

The hospital quickly filled all eight beds in its Covid-19 unit, expanding to 17, and then to 29 beds, Vásquez said. The state deployed around 33 medical workers, including doctors and laboratory technicians, to help the hospital.

“Unfortunately, Starr County Memorial Hospital has limited resources, and our physicians will have to decide who receives treatment and who is sent home to die for loved ones,” Starr County Judge Eloy Vera wrote Thursday, in a Facebook post. “This is what we did not want our community to experience.”

Vasquez said it was a difficult decision to start reviewing the cases, but with limited resources, officials must consider who has * the best * chance of survival.

“Those patients who certainly have no hope of improvement, we believe are better cared for within their own family in love for their own home than thousands of miles away, dying in a hospital room alone,” said Vasquez. said.

At least 40 new cases of coronavirus were reported Thursday in Starr County, bringing the county’s total to 1,701. There have been 17 deaths related to the virus and another 32 are pending state confirmation, local health officials said.

“When we talk about people who have died in our community, we are talking about uncles, cousins, brothers, a co-worker, a relative,” said Vásquez. “We are talking about people who had a close relationship with any of us in one way or another.”

An estimated 64,000 people live in Starr County, according to data from the United States Census Bureau.
The increase in the pandemic has been particularly harsh along the Texas-Mexico border. Starr County’s neighbor, Hidalgo County, has become one of the state’s main coronavirus hotspots.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced Sunday that five teams from the US Navy were being deployed to South Texas to help combat the spread of the virus.

A new home shelter order began in Starr County on Friday, nearly three months after Governor Abbott ended the state’s order to stay home, allowing businesses to reopen at limited capacity. Texas was one of the first states to reopen its economy.

The county order will remain in effect until August 10 and requires residents to shelter in their homes, including those who live in shared hotels, motels, and rentals.

A mandatory curfew was also issued from 11 pm to 5 am for anyone over the age of 18 and from 10 pm to 6 am for residents 17 years of age and younger, unless accompanied by a parent or guardian.

“Our backs are against the wall,” Judge Vera, who signed the order, said at a press conference. “We are literally in a life and death situation.”

CNN’s Ashley Killough contributed to this report.

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