On Thursday, the DFW Hospital Council announced that there are no available pediatric ICU beds in North Texas.
There are currently 73 confirmed COVID-19 pediatric patients hospitalized in the trauma service area E.
That is the highest level of pediatric COVID-19 patients ever treated.
Trauma service area E includes all the hospitals in 19 counties, including Cooke, Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Erath, Fannin, Grayson, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Navarro, Palo Pinto, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell, Tarrant, and Wise counties.
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On top of the COVID-19 surge, children’s hospitals are treating an unusual number of RSV patients for the summer season. The overall percent occupancy of all inpatient pediatric patients to bed capacity is currently running 94.55%.
As beds dwindle, DFW Hospital Council CEO and President Stephen Love said hospitals will implement contingency plans using makeshift spaces and reallocating staff.
"Otherwise, they have to transfer the patient to other facilities. But the problem is in the state of Texas, the Houston area, the El Paso area, we’re all in the same situation. This fourth surge is extremely serious," said Love.
There are currently 2,690 COVID-19 adult patients in TSA-E hospitals. That's an increase of 178 from 2,512 on Wednesday. This represents 18% of bed capacity and 42.17% of adult ICU patients. Well over a third of adult ICU patients in TSA-E currently have COVID-19.
“They’re younger and they’re sicker. The average age continues to drop. We’re in a very critical situation. And we’ve got to monitor this and be after it, especially over the next couple of weeks," said Love.
The COVID-19 cases breakdown by county like this: Tarrant 919, Dallas 786, Collin 330, Denton 165, Hunt 53, Grayson 98, Ellis 71 and Rockwall 87.
Hospitalizations have increased approximately five times over the past 30 days.
“All I can say, if you’re not vaccinated, you’re playing Russian roulette. Please get vaccinated. Just about all of the patients in our hospitals are unvaccinated," said Love.
There are currently 75 available adult staffed ICU beds in TSA-E with 23 in Dallas County, 21 in Tarrant, 16 in Collin, 10 in Denton, three in Wise, one in Erath and one in Kaufman.
The Hospital Council says as of Thursday, 343 COVID-19 adults are on ventilators.
