The number of North Texas hospitalized COVID-19 patients has topped 2,500 – The Dallas Morning News

The number of North Texas patients hospitalized with COVID-19 continues to mount, and health experts worry that the highly contagious omicron variant will strain already overwhelmed hospitals as much as or more than previous variants.

In the last 24 hours, at least 260 North Texas patients were hospitalized with COVID-19, bringing the areas total COVID-19 hospitalization count to 2,516, according to the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council.

The current hospitalizations from COVID-19 have yet to reach the highs seen in previous surges more than 3,600 hospitalizations during the delta surge in September and more than 4,100 in January 2021, according to Texas Department of State Health Services data.

But public health experts say we likely have a few more weeks before the omicron surge hits its peak in North Texas.

To me, this is a much more serious situation [than with delta], because we have much less staffing, said Steve Love, president and CEO of the DFW Hospital Council. In the previous surge with delta, health care workers were staying healthy. Now, many are out. It doesnt mean theyre hospitalized, but they do have to isolate [themselves].

Dr. Philip Huang, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services, said: If we compare [the surge] to some of the other countries, its probably going to be at least another two weeks of increasing cases.

Tuesdays totals represent 18.3% of available hospital bed capacity in North Texas trauma service area, up from around 17% on Monday, Love said.

As part of an executive order issued by Gov. Greg Abbott in September 2020, areas with more than 15% of hospital capacity taken by COVID-19 patients for seven consecutive days were directed to postpone surgeries and procedures that were not medically necessary to diagnose or treat a serious condition.

That order has since been lifted, but passing the 15% threshold is still an important measure to watch, Love said.

Hospitals are doing their very best to balance treating people with COVID but continuing doing all the things we can do to help people with non-COVID, he said. Many times, some of those elective procedures, whether they be diagnostic tests, etc., are so important that we cant continue to postpone and postpone.

Pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations reached 103 in North Texas on Tuesday, inching closer to a peak of 111 pediatric hospitalizations from the virus seen in previous surges, according to DFW Hospital Council data.

Cook Childrens Medical Center had 26 COVID-19 patients as of Monday, two of whom are in the intensive care unit.

Preliminary research suggests that the omicron variant appears to be causing milder illness in children compared to the delta variant, The New York Times reported.

The increase in pediatric hospitalizations could be explained by the relatively low vaccination rate among children ages 5 and older. About 90% of children ages 5 to 10 are not fully vaccinated against the virus.

Omicron is better than previous variants at evading the protection provided by COVID-19 vaccinations. Booster shots seem to offer more protection, especially against severe disease. On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration expanded Pfizers COVID-19 booster eligibility to include kids ages 12 to 15.

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The number of North Texas hospitalized COVID-19 patients has topped 2,500 - The Dallas Morning News