DFW Hospital Council: More Than 1,900 Hospitalized in North Texas For COVID-19

COVID-19 hospitalizations in North Texas continue to climb with the DFW Hospital Council reporting another uptick on Wednesday.

As of Wednesday, there are 1,922 COVID-19 patients battling the virus in Trauma Service E’s hospitals. There were 398 COVID-19 patients in the region’s hospitals one month ago on July 4, according to council president Stephen Love.

“Currently, we have 83 available adult staffed ICU beds. We have 247 COVID-19 adults on ventilators. Today, we have 45 confirmed COVID-19 pediatric patients hospitalized which is approximately three times the volume a month ago and an increase of four from yesterday,” Love wrote in an email.

The hospitalizations equate to 12.81% of total bed capacity in TSA E and 30.96% of adult ICU patients which means over a quarter of adult ICU patients have COVID-19. Tarrant County currently has the most amount of hospitalized COVID-19 patients with 684 as of Wednesday, according to the DFW Hospital Council.

This week, MedStar officials released data showing an 87% increase since June in the number of patients MedStar crews identify as potentially experiencing COVID-19 related illness.

“We’re definitely a busy system and with COVID, it has brought those levels up exceptionally higher than what we’re normally used to but holding in there pretty good,” MedStar paramedic John Hamilton said. “A little bit sicker people than what we’re normally used to seeing, so it’s been a little different this year.”

Hamilton said as a paramedic, the influx of COVID-19 cases can add stress to the daily workload. There are extra precautions taken in hopes of protecting both the patient and the crews.

“You don’t know how contagious a person is even though I’ve been personally vaccinated, I still have a little bit of concern for each patient I come in contact with that they might transmit a variant to me as well. Then I’m concerned about bringing that home to my family as well,” he said.

This Friday, MedStar will host a free public vaccine clinic at their headquarters from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“If you have not been vaccinated, it’s a personal choice for sure,” Hamilton said. “But community welfare-wise, I think it’s kind of incumbent upon the average individual to go ahead and get this immunization. We did it with smallpox and we eradicated that with immunizations.”

This week, Tarrant County health leaders announced they will also begin hosting free testing sites.

Previously the Texas Division of Emergency Management had operated testing sites across Tarrant County but reduced their operations due to slowing demand and closed their last sites in June.

For a list of vaccine clinics hosted by Tarrant County, the website has a list of locations.

COVID-19 Testing Locations:

Monday

8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Northeast Subcourthouse
645 Grapevine Hwy.
Hurst, TX 76054

Tuesday

8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Southwest Public Health Center
6551 Granbury Road, Suite 110
Fort Worth, Texas 76133

1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Bagsby – Williams Public Health Center
3212 Miller Avenue
Fort Worth, Texas 76105

Wednesday

8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Northwest Public Health Center
3800 Adam Grubb Road
Lake Worth, Texas 76135-3506

Thursday

8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Southeast Subcourthouse Arlington
700 E Abram Street
Arlington, Texas 76010

Friday

8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Mansfield Subcourthouse
1100 E. Broad Street, Ste 100
Mansfield, TX 76063