Coronavirus: Texas Points To Bed Availability As Illness Spikes

AUSTIN, TX — Acknowledging the recent rise in cases of the coronavirus and resulting hospitalizations posed a "concern," Gov. Greg Abbott focused on what he termed an "abundant" supply of hospital beds to deal with the upticks during a Tuesday news conference.

"We are in the middle of a short period of time when we have to coexist with COVID-19," Abbott said. "This is going to continue being the case until at least a few more months until we have medicines that prevent people from getting COVID-19. We are here today to let Texans know about the abundant hospital capacity that exists to treat Texans who may test positive for COVID-19."

Abbott spoke from a room outside the State Operations Center, joined by Dr. John Zerwas, a physician from Richmond who is on a state team working to expand hospital capacity and procure needed medical supplies; Dr. John Hellerstedt, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services; and Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd.

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Abbott said fewer Texans test positive for COVID-19 than residents in any large states in the U.S. He added that Texas has one of the lowest death rates, and few Texans who test positive have to go to the hospital in the first place.

The governor's news conference related to coronavirus in Texas — his first since May 27 — came amid soaring rates of new illness and hospitalizations across Texas. The Texas Department of State Health Services agency reported 96,335 cases of the respiratory illness have been postively diagnosed to date in Texas as of Wednesday — the day after his news conference — since the onset of coronavirus. Moreover, there have been 2,062 fatalities.

The day before, 2,622 more people tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday — a new record shattering the previous high of 2,054 set on June 10.

Health officials also reported 2,518 patients positively testing for coronavirus are currently in hospitals — up from 2,326 on Monday and the highest daily number for the fifth day in a row. The number bypassed the previous record high of 2,287 reached on Sunday.

New cases of the illness rose by 1,254 on Monday — also a new high on a day of the week when the lowest numbers of new cases are posted weekly. The increases come in the wake of a state economic reopening Abbott launched in phases starting May 1.

Related story: Coronavirus: Texas Illness Count Crosses 89K Mark, 7 More Deaths

According to data on a statistics-laden dashboard maintained by Texas Department of State Health Services, the number of daily cases and hospitalizations have doubled since Abbott launched the second phase of economic reopening on May 18.

Despite such growing rates, Abbott said fewer Texans test positive for COVID-19 than residents in any large states in the U.S. He added that Texas has one of the lowest death rates and few Texans who test positive have to go to the hospital in the first place. In previously justifying his reopening of the state economy — the first governor to start alllowing businesses to reopen — the governor previously attributed spikes to clusters in meatpacking plants and corrections facilities.

But on Monday, he ticked off a list of counties exhibiting big illness increases in suggesting the spikes were something of an aberration:

• Jefferson and Pecos counties, Abbott cited as examples, had an "outsized influence" on the number of Texans testing positive for COVID-19. He pointed to a federal prison in Beaumont that recorded a batch of positive tests among inmates "that all came in at once." Acknowledging that the number of new cases recorded on Tuesday, he blamed that largely on numerous tests from an assisted living center in Collin County.
• Big numbers coming out of Hays County were "batched together and averaged out," Abbott said. He suggested many of the spikes have resulted from people going back to bars given the young demographic of some of those newly diagnosed. He did concede that "It's hard to tell exactly where those young people contracted COVID," theorizing illness clusters stem from social activity over the Memorial Day weekend.

Patch reached out to Kim Hilsenbeck, communications manager for Hays County, for her side of the story. She took issue with the governor's categorization into the way the data were tabulated in Hays County. Further, she said the suggestion of infection coming from rampant bar-hopping was inaccurate: "We've never given that type of information," she said, while acknowledging the Hays County spike was measured in the 20-29 age cohort.

Hilsenbeck said 143 new positive were recorded in Hays County on Saturday, June 13, followed by 54 additional cases on Sunday and 99 on Monday. But she said the numbers were not conflated together but separately reported — not "batched together and averaged out," as the governor said.

Hilsenbeck conceded full reports weren't able to be done this past weekend, but health officials conveyed the spikes to the public via social media platforms before the numbers could be updated on the county statistical dashboard on Monday.

"I want you to know that this is the same type of analysis that we use on an ongoing basis as we look into each and every county across the entire state of Texas to figure out exactly what is going on," Abbott said while ticking of the county figures.

Zerwas focused his portion of the talk to specifics on hospital bed availability, saying 14,993 — from the state's 54,844 total — were available as of March 16 for use by coronavirus patients. Asked by a reporter if the total includes beds from psychiatric hospitals or those designed for pediatric patients, he conceded the latter were part of the mix. He noted there were 5,869 ventilators available for potential patients.

In ticking off the numbers on bed availability, Zerwas hope aloud they might yield a "comforting message" of the state's health care system.

For his part, Hellerstedt, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, said state officials expected the increase in patients, but added that "We are seeing it occurring at a manageable level." However, he added that "The possibility that things could flare up again and produce a resurgence of COVID-19, is still very real."

A PowerPoint presentation on hospital bed availability in select cities was given, including:

• Dallas-Fort Worth, where 24 percent of the area's 14,383 beds are available.
• Houston with 21 percent of 12,458 beds are available.
• El Paso, where 31 percent of the area's 1,805 beds are available with a note that there are 97 lab-confirmed COVID-19 patients in the hospital.
• Amarillo, where 41 percent of the area's 1,038 beds are available. "This is where we had some issues with our meatpacking plants," Zerwas noted, adding the county is no longer a "hotspot" for the coronavirus.
• San Antonio, where 26 percent of the state's 5,799 reported beds are available to COVID-19 patients.
• Austin, where 28 percent of the area's 3,250 beds are available and where there are around 137 COVID-confirmed patients hospitalized, Zerwas said.

During a question-and-answer session with reporters, Abbott was asked why he denied a Dallas County judge's request to make the wearing of face coverings mandatory — a recommendation the governor himself often repeated during his news conference — even after previously having made their use voluntary and warned local officials not to issue punitive action for their non-use given his superseding executive order. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff in San Antonio also made a similar request, but was rebuffed by the governor.

"Putting people in jail, however, is the wrong approach, and that's exactly what I think the Dallas County judge wants to do," Abbott said. "He hasn't lifted a finger to use other forms of enforcement he needs to avail himself of. The county judge in Dallas County and elsewhere have the ability to impose fines — not for face masks, but for other strategies like large gatherings."

Abbott said in summation: "As we begin to open up Texas and Texans returns to their jobs, we remain laser-focused on maintaining abundant hospital capacity. The best way to contain the spread of this virus is by all Texans working together and following simple safety precautions. We all have a responsibility for our own health and for the health of our loved ones, friends, and neighbors. COVID-19 still exists in Texas, and if we are to contain the spread while getting Texans back to work, all Texans must do their part. That means making safe and smart decisions like wearing a mask, washing your hands, and socially distancing in public. The more Texans protect their own health, the safer our state will be and the more we will be able to open up for business."

From earlier:

AUSTIN, TX — Gov. Greg Abbott is scheduled on Tuesday to provide an update on hospital capacity in Texas amid rising rates of illness and hospitalizations stemming from the coronavirus.

The governor will be joined by Executive Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs of the University of Texas System John Zerwas, MD, in providing the update at 1 p.m. Also scheduled to speak is Texas Department of State Health Services Commissioner John Hellerstedt, MD, and Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd.

Live video coverage will be provided by KTRK-TV, the ABC affiliate in Houston). Those wishing to watch the feed also can do so at NBC DFW. The coronavirus press briefing is the first for Abbott since May 27.

The governor's presentation comes amid a spike in hospitalizations across Texas. On Monday, health officials reported there were 2,326 patients who tested positive for the respiratory illness under hospitalization — a new high for Texas. New cases of the illness rose by 1,254 on the same day — also a new high on a day of the week when the lowest numbers of new cases are posted weekly. The spikes come after Abbott began reopening the state economy, making Texas the first state to do so amid the pandemic.

Despite the upticks, the governor has suggested he won't slow down his reopening of the state economy launched May 1. In Abbott's attempts to reignite the economy, Texas gained the distinction of being the first state to reopen.