State virus case surge spurs pleas
Officials make last-ditch call for safety on holiday’s eve
Amid the greatest spike in daily Texas COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, political and health leaders Wednesdaymade a last-ditch effort to get people to practice preventative measures over the holiday weekend.
The pleas came a day after the state recorded more than 19,500 newpositive cases, a larger singleday increase than even any day during the summersurge of cases. The state added another 15,000 cases Wednesday.
William Mckeon, president of the Texas Medical Center, added that the trends are “concerning enough without the holiday. Now is the time for people to double down on wearing masks and maintaining at least six feet of distance if they come together.”
Mckeon expressed relief about canceled Thanksgiving trips, which included a 60 percent drop-off in the number of people passing through U.S. airport checkpoints from Friday to Tuesday compared to the same time a year ago. But such travelers constituted some of the biggest numbers since the start of the COVID-19 crisis and it’s unclear if many followed health leaders’ call for people to create “a pre-holiday bubble” in which they got tested and quarantined before traveling.
The trend of more new cases is also translating to more hospitalizations, which lag behind because it typically takes at least a week for cases to require such care. Medical center officials said their hospitals are still easily capable of handling the increasing number of COVID-19 admissions, but acknowledged concern about the trend, which can overwhelm staff and leave fewer resources for NON-COVID-19 care if the numbers get out of control.
Dr. Marc Boom, president of Houstonmethodist, noted the system’s COVID-19 census Wednesday was 358, compared to 199 at the start of the month. Mckeon said that at the continued growth rate, without a Thanksgiving spike, the number of TMC COVID-19 hospitalizations projects to grow from the current 900 to as many as 2,000 by Christmas.
TMC hospitalizations peaked at around 2,400 in mid-july, partly attributed to spikes associated with the Memorial Day and July 4th holiday weekends.
In a 25-county area centered in Houston, there are currently 1,099 COVID positive patients requiring intensive care, according to the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council, which oversees emergency care during medical crises. Of those ICU patients, 888 are in either Harris, Fort Bend or Montgomery counties.
“The trends we’re seeing now are deeply troubling because they mirror what we saw in the early lead-up to last summer’s explosion in cases and hospital admissions,” said Rafael Lemaitre, spokesman for Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. “Thanksgiving gatherings have the potential to pour jet fuel on this situation, accelerating even beyond current trends the number of cases and hospitalizations we’re seeing.”
COVID-19 has now killed more than 21,000 people in Texas, including more than 1,000 in the past week. There were more than 8,500 Texans hospitalized Wednesday, an increase of more than
700 from last Friday and the highest since Aug. 4. The statewide seven-day average is 12,753, a number increasing every day. The state’s positive test rate is 10.5.
The state surge is being fueled by Lubbock and El Paso, which are reporting record numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths, the latter with numbers so high that the Texas National Guard has been deployed to help with morgue operations. Peter Hotez, Baylor College of Medicine infectious disease specialist, said the cities are two of the “worst affected metro areas in the world.”
Nearly 40 percent of hospitalized patients in Amarillo and El Paso have COVID-19. In comparison, only about 7.5 percent in the
Houston area have COVID.
On Wednesday Amarillo’s mayor, who’s battling cancer, announced that she and her husband have tested positive for COVID-19.
Mayor Ginger Nelson said her husband tested positive last week. Nelson got an initial negative test
but after her symptoms worsened, she got another test and it came back positive.
“So, the Nelson family is quarantined for Thanksgiving and we are resting and treating our symptoms and seem to be doing just fine,” Nelson said during an online news conference.
Nelson’s announcement about testing positive for COVID-19 comes after she had revealed in January she had been diagnosed with blood cancer. Nelson has said her prognosis is good and she has been receiving treatment.
Themayor said shewanted to use what happened to her and the initial negative coronavirus test she received as a warning about believing one may not be sick and then deciding to get together on Thanksgiving with family members who are older or whose health might be compromised and are more at risk for getting the virus.
“You might think you’re fine. But the last thing I know that many of us would want to do is to put them in a position where they would get this virus and not be able to recover,” said Nelson.
Houston health officials said they generally expect the situation to continue to get worse locally, but also expressed hope the area can be spared the worst if people embrace safe practices; the fact that it doesn’t get as cold here helps since it allows people to be outside more.
“It may look inevitable that the wave of COVID-19 washes over us, but we still have time,” said Dr. Alanna Morrison, chair of epidemiology, human genetics and environmental sciences at the Uthealth School of Public Health. “If everybody does the right thing now, I think we could hold steady.”