DENTON COUNTY, Texas — Hospitals issue a daily report to the state of Texas disclosing how many patients are in their care and how many beds are available.
The data might slightly change by the hour, but the numbers given to the state reflect a single point in time every day.
And the data coming from Denton County is troubling, according to public health experts and nurses.
“We’re concerned. We really are,” said Melissa Winans, Chief Nursing Officer at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Denton.
She oversees about 450 nurses.
“Right now we can safely take care of these patients, but it’s really a call to action to the community to help us slow the spread of this disease,” said Winans.
State data showed Denton County, population 875,000, had six available ICU beds. Monday, the number was five.
Also on Monday, the county reported 592 new COVID cases, the highest one-day total since the pandemic began.
RELATED: COVID-19 updates: Denton County reports record high of 592 new cases, has 5 available ICU beds
Winans said her hospital has the physical space to add extra ICU beds, but the problem is staffing.
There aren’t any extra ICU nurses to care for those patients.
“If we if we keep pushing this, we will get to a point where we are stretched and aren’t able to perform the care we really want to,” she said.
In a presentation to Denton County commissioners on Tuesday, Director of Public Health Matt Richardson said the trend line for new cases for every age continues to go up.
And Winans said it’s often a couple of weeks after cases spike that her staff begins to see spikes in hospitalizations.
On Monday, more than 50% of patients in Denton County’s approximately 79 ICU beds were fighting COVID.
Once capacity is reached, Richardson said the entire region begins a process that is “complicated and not at all ideal.”
“Basically, you start to take patients who need ICU and you start to convert other beds for a temporary use,” Richardson said. “And you try to offer that acute care option or transfer within the metroplex.”
Denton County Judge Andy Eads said he and other county judges from across the region are having frequent conversations with local hospital CEOs and the DFW Hospital Council about “how to be nimble and how to be flexible and how to share staffing.”
Winans said her staff is nearing the point of exhaustion.
“Back in March and in April, nurses were the heroes,” she said. “Everyone was rallying for us.”
“Now I’m afraid they’ve become the forgotten heroes,” she said.
“But they’re still the ones that come in day after day, shift after shift and take care of the sickest of the sick. And they’re the last ones to hold your loved one’s hand.”
Winans said now is the time for the public to act.
“Wear your mask, wash your hands, watch your distance,” she said.