Burnout Texas Healthcare Professionals Prepare For Yet Another COVID Wave – Houston Public Media

They are all familiar recommendations: wear a mask. Get vaccinated. Get a booster.

Doctors and health professionals across Texas say we have tools to protect ourselves for over a year and a half.

But as the Texans prepare to enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, yet another wave of the new coronavirus will occur. It is underpinned by a new, more contagious variant of Omicron. Another burden on an already exhausted workforce that may have reached its limits.

And holidays may indicate a turning point for hospitalization, without increasing vaccinations.

Dr. Stephen Love, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Dallas / Fort Worth Hospital Council, said: “But we raise our hands to remind people that COVID is still there. We have better medicines and better treatments, but we raise our hands The reason we are there is the huge amount we may have to face. The staff to deal with it is limited. “

According to state health data, over 60% of eligible Texans over the age of 5 are fully vaccinated. As of Monday, more than 83% of Texas ICU beds were full, according to US Department of Health and Human Services data. The UT Southwestern University Hospital in Dallas did not have an ICU bed. The ICU bed capacity of the University Health System in San Antonio was 84% ​​and 15 ICU beds were available. In the Houston Methodist, only 10 of the hospital’s 153 inpatient ICU beds were free.

“The critical care team, they are tired,” Love said. “They have been working on this for over two years. We are trying to balance the emergency department workforce with the overall emotional stability of the workforce because they are very tired. . “

Prior to Omicron, hospital levels were largely controlled, and healthcare professionals had some rest, even if the delta remained constant, according to Dr. Mark Boom, president and chief executive officer of the Houston Methodist Hospital. I’m taking. But that can end soon.

“It’s certainly been a breathtaking time in the last few months,” Boom said. “But we really want everyone to be able to take a breath for much longer.”

At this point, COVID-related hospitalizations are well below the pandemic highs seen last year and earlier this year. However, researchers have seen Omicron spread much faster than the previous concern, the Delta mutant.

73% of new infectious diseases across the United States Omicron related, According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An unvaccinated Harris County man in his 50s First recorded death Related to Omicron in the United States

Houston Methodist alone, researchers say Cases are doubling every 2-3 days..

“You may feel the double pain of having many patients, but even with a mild infection, there are many staff members who need to rest at home for a while,” Boom said. “It’s a difficult situation.”

The number of cases is also increasing at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston. By the weekend, 100% of cases are likely to be related to Omicron, said Dr. Linda Yancey, a hospital infectious disease expert.

Still, hospital leaders say they’re plunging into a surge this winter, which is more armed than last year.

“We know the staffing needed in the midst of a surge,” says Yancey. “We know the treatments available, so we want to cross our fingers and it won’t happen in case of the worst scenario.”

Currently, the vaccine is widely available to most people, but children are just beginning to inject and children under the age of 5 are not yet eligible.

So far, pediatric hospitalizations in Texas remain relatively low. The majority of children hospitalized with COVID are not vaccinated.

Despite the small number of children, there are signs of rising state health data, and the Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston says the number of children admitted with COVID has doubled in the last four days.

At least 37% of Texas children’s cases are Omicron-related, according to Dr. Stanley Spinner, Chief Medical Officer at the hospital. Data collection on variants in children’s hospitals is as up-to-date as last week, and Spinner expected the numbers to more than double based on the diffusion rate of Omicron.

“It’s like a rocket ship,” Spinner said. “When Delta is just as contagious, we’ve seen an increase in the rate at which we thought it was very rapid. But this is very fast. It’s really difficult. “

Paul De Benedetto of Houston Public Media contributed to this report.