‘Uptick' of COVID hospitalizations in North Texas reported, says DFW Hospital Council

The Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council said it's noticed an 'uptick' in the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations.

“We certainly don't want people to panic. We do want people to know there's an uptick in the number of COVID cases, nothing like where we were last year," said Stephen Love, president and CEO of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council.

He said since June there's been a steady increase of patients in North Texas hospitals.

Love said on Sept. 1 it was 323 cases compared to June 21, it was at 73.

• September 1: 323 COVID-19 patients in hospitals 25 were pediatric
• August 21: 237 COVID-19 patients in hospitals 18 were pediatric
• July 21: 134 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, 3 were pediatric
• June 21: 73 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, 2 were pediatric

"As I'm talking to the infectious disease doctors and I look at some of the reports that come into the state, it's generally the more elderly and people that have some type of underlying health condition that are hospitalized. Now, many people test positive and they test positive at home and they actually get infected with the virus, but they're not sick enough to come to the hospital, which is good," said Love.

Compared to August of 2022, when there were 800 COVID-19 hospitalizations in DFW hospitals, these recent numbers are far less, but health workers still want people to be vigilant.

"Anytime you've got an infectious disease, you've got to be cautious, and we know flu season's coming, and as you look at the new vaccine for COVID coming out that we hope people will receive, you certainly want to get your flu vaccine and there is now an RSV vaccine," Love said.

With school back in session and people returning from summer travel, there's been a noticeable increase in COVID-19 cases.

"We see the trend going up, this coincides with the national trends," said Christian Grisales, a spokesperson for Dallas County Health and Human Services.

He said it's a good time for people to be proactive as flu and RSV season begins as well.

"Every precaution you can take to prevent getting sick and ending up in the hospital, that's what we must do," said Grisales.

He said vaccines are believed to be helping keep people out of the hospital because even though they may get infected, they're not getting sick enough to be admitted.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said a new COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be available around the end of the month, which is expected to target different strains of the virus.

"When I talk to the infectious disease doctors, they point to a couple of things. One, some of the vaccines are beginning to wane, if you will, a little bit because these are new variants, these are all cousins of Omicron, which you get XB B XB B 1.5 XB B 1.6, and so this new vaccine that's coming out, and hopefully in the next three to four weeks is going to help and have some type of immunity against those variants," said Love.

He said as of last check with state and local health officials, the newest strain of COVID-19, 'Pirola', has not yet been detected in Texas.