The Tarrant County Department of Public Health confirms that county hospital ICUs are at 99% capacity on Tuesday, with only six beds available. The county health department also confirmed another 1,278 new cases of COVID-19 were reported Tuesday, along with another 23 new deaths.
At the Tarrant County Commissioners’ Court meeting on Tuesday, public health director Vinny Taneja reported that the county has six ICU beds remaining.
“Someone has had a heart attack or a serious traffic accident, now you have to decide who is the most critical person. Where do you put him? Do you put him in the ICU or try to treat him outside the ICU?” explained Taneja. “This is where the burden of a disease becomes unbearable.”
According to the TCPH COVID-19 panel, there are 1,323 patients with COVID-19 in municipal hospitals and represent 29% of ICU patients. The total bed occupancy rate for all hospital beds in the county is now 88%.
Of the 1,323 patients with COVID-19, 258 are in the ICU.
The Tarrant County Department of Public Health confirms 2,016 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, along with another 16 new deaths. TCPH is also reporting that more than 1,030 people are hospitalized in the county with the virus, including more than 200 in ICUs.
“Hospitals have pandemic pandemic plans. I’m not going to scare people, that they don’t know or don’t have the capacity. They do, but do you really want to expand that capacity? We already know that we are short of employees,” said Taneja. “Staff have been working at the hospital for almost 10 months, dealing with many COVID and illnesses. They are tired. Some of them had COVID, family with COVID, some of them died. So, do you really want to stretch that capacity? “
In the past seven days, the municipality announced 11,188 new cases of the virus or an average of 1,431 per day. Data from the county health department indicate that there are 1,278 more confirmed cases than the most recent report and 31 fewer probable cases.
The latest victims included a Keller man over 100, a Bedford woman in her 90s, a Hurst man in her 90s, a Fort Worth woman in her 90s, a Fort Worth woman in her 90s. 80, two Bedford men in their 80s, two Mansfield women in their 80s, two men from Fort Worth in their 80s, a Grapevine man in their 80s, a Bedford woman in their 70s, a man Crowley in his 70s, two Benbrook men in his 70s, a Fort Worth man in his 70s, a Hurst woman in his 70s, a Fort Worth man in his 60s, a Euless woman in his 60s a Crowley man in his 50s, a Mansfield man in his 50s, and a Fort Worth man in his 30s. Three did not have underlying health problems, three had unknown underlying problems, while the others had underlying problems.
Tarrant County, which extended its mask mandate until February 28, 2021, last month, began reporting probable and confirmed cases of COVID-19 in August, at the request of the state health department. Probable cases, the county said, are responsible for a variety of real-world situations and can highlight cases in the community that would otherwise not be reported. To date, the county has reported 127,256 confirmed cases of the virus and 18,023 probable cases for a total of 145,279 cases.
The county is also reporting another 1,113 estimated recoveries, bringing the total number of survivors to 106,644. There are currently about 37,187 active cases in the county, most of any county in northern Texas.
With 1,448 deaths now attributed to the virus, COVID-19 is now projected to be the third leading killer of Tarrant County residents, after cancer and heart disease, and is expected to exceed the annual total of strokes later this year.
COVID-19 causes a respiratory illness with cough, fever and shortness of breath and can cause bronchitis, severe pneumonia or even death. For more information, go to coronavirus.tarrantcounty.com or call the Tarrant County Public Health information line, 817-248-6299, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.