Certainly, we hear of the increased COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations nationally as well as in some Texas cities. I decided to peruse the Texas Department of State Health Services website to find out what is the status of our North Central Texas hospital systems. I share what I have found.
To start out the gate, the state COVID-19 testing positivity rate was about 11% as of November 27, 2020. From the ten days prior, this has decreased from 13%. This may contribute to lower hospitalizations in our North Central Texas region. The CDC has repeatedly indicated that this number needs to be below 10% to demonstrate a more “controlled” community spread.
As of November 27, 2020, 87% of our area staffed hospital beds were full. On November 17, 2020, 89% were full. On July 28, 2020, when our infection numbers were last peaking, our area staffed hospital beds were 83% full. Along this vein, as of November 27, 2020, our North Central Texas area had 2026 available hospital beds. Ten days prior to this, our area had 1763 available hospital beds.
Concerning area ICU beds, as of November 27, 2020, there were 121 available. Ten days earlier than that, there were five more available ICU beds, or 126. Comparatively, as of November 27, 2020, there were 1744 available ventilators. Ten days earlier, there were 1961 available ventilators. Back to our previous period of infection peaks, on July 27, 2020, there were 1799 available ventilators in our area.
On November 27, 2020, there were 2385 lab-confirmed COVID-19 patients hospitalized in our area; compared to 2238 ten days earlier, and compared to 1634 on July 27, 2020.
Concerning our area hospital capacity as well, there were 11,911 patients in the area hospitals on November 27, 2020. This compares to 13,479 ten days earlier.
To summarize, our North Central Texas hospital systems are not overrun. However, our communities must continue our mitigation procedures. We know what to do. This problem is not solved by our national nor state leaders; this problem is best solved by us, who control our own personal hygiene, who control our own mask use, and who controls who stays home when they are sick.
May we be responsible for the health of the public. May we rely on our sources for strength and hope; facts, logic, and faith.
We thank you for your interest in our article. We invite you to peruse our website. We invite you to contact us for an appointment.
