COVID-19 hospitalizations in Texas reach a new record

The Texas Department of State reported a large pandemic of 11,351 hospitalizations at COVID-19 on Monday.

This exceeds the previous all-time high of 10,893, which occurred on July 22nd.

The record comes in the middle of a holiday season, public health experts worry that it could exacerbate the virus that is already spreading rapidly and as a result of an increase in cases weeks after Thanksgiving.

These hospital data do not take into account people who are hospitalized but have not received a positive test, and DSHS says some hospitals may be missing from the daily number. Since Monday, the state has also reported 49 deaths caused by COVID-19, a delayed indicator of transmission rate expansion and more than 12,800 new cases confirmed by COVID-19. The reported cases could have appeared lower in recent days, as some local health departments did not report data to the state during the holiday week.

Earlier this month, Texas’ intensive care capacity was already the lowest since the beginning of the pandemic, leaving health care experts worried that hospitals could be pushed to a standstill as coronavirus cases continue to rise. Across the state, COVID-19 patients occupy 17.8% of state hospital beds, and only 745 intensive care beds are still available.

At a news conference Monday, Mark Escott, Austin’s interim medical director and health authority, said that this week alone, “UI use” is up 62 percent in Travis County and that hospital beds could become scarce in a few weeks. weeks.

“Our projections for the new year continue to look worse and worse,” Escott said. “I think now it looks like we will enter a state of emergency in 2021.”

Meanwhile, medical workers at hospitals large and small began receiving the vaccine across the state, calling it a “blow of hope” and a “light at the end of the tunnel.” However, many Texans are wary of receiving Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, both of which received emergency FDA approval after data showed they were around 95% effective. And Texas has not yet detailed how or when prisons and prisons, known hot spots for the spread of coronavirus, will receive the vaccine.

Julián Aguilar contributed to this report.