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Doctor: If COVID-19 trends continue, ICU beds could run out
One Texas Medical Center doctor says if the present trend continues, we are weeks away from a serious situation regarding running out of ICU space.
HARRIS COUNTY - The Texas Medical Center is running out of space in the Intensive Care Units of every hospital, 97 percent of the Medical Center’s ICU beds are now full.
One Texas Medical Center doctor says if the present trend continues, we are weeks away from a serious situation regarding running out of ICU space.
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"I think it’s extremely serious. There’s absolutely no question about it. There’s no need to panic but there’s every reason to do all the right things,” says Dr. Ashok Balasubramonyam Baylor VP of Academic Integration. Baylor is one of about 20 hospitals in the medical center.
Houston has one of the greatest medical centers in the world. Now our Texas Medical Center Intensive Care Units are 97% full with COVID-19 patients occupying 27%.
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Since mid-April, the Houston area was having less than 300 new cases per week. The number spiked to about 400 weekly since the beginning of June.
“This week it’s jumped up to an almost 1,000 person increase. So the rate of people coming into the hospital has doubled,” says Balasubramonyam who says if that number continues to climb area hospitals are prepared to go to what’s called Surge Capacity, converting other areas of the hospitals into temporary ICU’s.
“When you exceed that you get into an Emergency Capacity which is pull out all the stops, use all the space, bring in all kinds of folks who are not necessarily ICU specialists. That is not sustainable for more than two weeks. Beyond that we’re looking at things like a field hospital,” explains Dr. Balasubramonyam.
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"It’s past time for people to take this situation seriously,” said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.
”This is all 100% avoidable by social distancing and wearing masks,” adds Houston Health Authority Dr. David Persse.
The mayor says the city is going to start cracking down, not putting people in jail but perhaps temporarily closing businesses that are cramming too many people in or creating a public wall of shame for folks who aren’t adhering to policies put in place to help stop COVID-19.
“Quite frankly because this is a healthcare crisis I don’t care if you get mad with me but we are going to get this thing under control,” said Mayor Turner.
Remember an ICU is not only space but equipment and personnel. So area hospitals are also putting specialty doctors outside of the ICU on standby and training General Physicians to perform certain Critical Care Specialist functions.