Did you know that there is a website for "Sky is the Limit" quotes. I went there looking for ones I could adapt for this blog - When everyone and his sister is wanting to know how high cases can go and when Omicron will take his leave, my point for today is: in many parts of Texas, the Hospitals are operating at capacity and - this time, it will take more than just adding beds in hallways; it is going to take additional staff - this is where we are coming up at two years (96 weeks!).
As we project today's data into prediction, it is important that we distinguish between the current and the situation one year ago. We have vaccinations, but for a large part of the state, boosters are needed to secure the gains these shots provided us last Spring and through the Summer. We have the ability to test ourselves, but such kits are hard to find at the moment. We understand that, at the moment, the Omicron Variant is highly transmissible and this leads to a large population carrying symptoms which, although they may not be severe, will lead to exposing the vulnerable among us: unvaccinated children less than 5 years old, those with compromised immune systems (there are more of these individuals than you would imagine - including cancer patients), and those with multiple health risks (including age and diabetes).
Hospitalizations are up; cases are not climbing as fast as they were last week. I don't read anything into this. Because schools have started back up since the holidays, and workplaces are putting together a new set of protocols, a new set of routine contacts is in the process of being established.
According to the above annotated Table, a doubling of patients has brought Texas's Covid-19 Hospitalized Patients to levels it was at during the Delta Surge. Along with this, we have a number of TSA Areas with few or no ICU Beds available. My expectation is that as these locations have reached their limit, they will start diverting patients to your Houston's, Dallas, and Galveston. San Antonio is out of staff and has petitioned the Governor for help. the same pattern will repeat itself as fatigue sets in throughout the system. https://www.texastribune.org/2022/01/17/texas-hospital-omicron-staff-nurses/
"Hate to be cynical but it seems that the same American populations who won't mask or vaccinate are suffering the highest hospitalization and death rate. This may be nature's karma..." This quote was posted by Alice London in this blog's comment section. If you combine her observation (see Week 96 Vaccination Rates, below) with the above situation, it is even worse than she says. Those who won't mask or vaccinate are taking our State Hospital system down with them. Just like the victims of SB8 who have had to travel out of state to take care of their situation, we will all have to think about going to Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, or Florida if we need to have emergency health care.
On a positive note, Presidio County has only 30 more inoculations to reach 100% of their population. Now they have to do it again and get those booster numbers up.
Before closing, look at the difference between the Total 5+ column and the Completely Vaccinated as of 1/16. In every region, we are talking about more than 1M people who will be at risk for Covid-19 and whose cases will be routed through one of the Big City Hospital networks over the next two to three months if the public does not "get-with-the-program".
Houston is setting up a Vaccine Ambassador Outreach Program. Many of you work and/or already booked for the next few weeks. I want to use this Blog to help get the word out and if your community is able to piggy-back on their organization, funding, and publicity, it could give others a way to help. https://houstonhealth.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_elg8cSgvRBFmek6
This way, we can have Friendly and Hopeful skies as well as those on the cold, winter horizon.
Comments