There are almost 1,700 hospitalized coronavirus patients in North Texas hospitals, signaling an increase not seen since August.
That number covers Collin, Dallas, Denton, Tarrant, and Grayson counties.
“Just to put that in perspective, that’s about 85% of where we were at the very highest level in July,” said Stephen Love, the president and CEO of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council.
Dallas and Tarrant counties account for about 1,100 of those COVID-19 hospitalizations, he said.
“Currently, if you look at just pure hospital capacity, COVID-19 represent 11% of the bed capacity,” Love said.
In October, Gov. Greg Abbott said the state's most recent reopenings would be allowed for those counties in regions with COVID-19 hospitalizations that are less than 15% of hospital capacity.
“We do have capacity. We do have PPE,” Love said. “But as you well know, when you have that increase, you’ve got to have the staff. And our staff is very fatigued. They’ve been at this since March.”
There are 566 COVID-19 patients in Tarrant County hospitals as of Monday afternoon, according to the county's coronavirus dashboard. That's the highest since Aug. 3 when there were 574 patients.
Tarrant County is also reporting a record high of 1,525 new cases of COVID-19. The county's previous record daily case count was set on Saturday with 1,062 new cases.
“Unfortunately, the community spread’s going up. The number of cases is going up,” Love said. “Some of this, anecdotally, the physicians feel is from Halloween parties. Maybe people that were out and about.”
Medical experts are bracing for what could be a busy holiday and winter season.
During the holidays and colder weather, people are likely to spend more time inside with others, "which is going to promote spread," Love said.
“We’re getting ready to have a big increase in volume, unless we can get people to immediately wear a mask, physical distance, wash their hands, and get your flu shot," he said.
On Monday, JPS Hospital in Fort Worth went into “Code Yellow" due to a great number of emergency room patients.
"The Code Yellow wasn't called because of anything COVID related but because of the greater number of [emergency department] patients, which often happens this time of year as flu season begins to ramp up," a hospital spokesperson said in a written statement.
As a result, JPS told WFAA said they had to move resources, such as nurses, around to meet the need.