Texas hospitals overwhelmed as coronavirus cases surge
Emergency physician Dr. Diana Fite speaks out.
As coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to climb, Texas may be forced to open up a stadium to handle the influx of patients, Texas Medical Association President Dr. Diana Fite warned Thursday.
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In an interview on "Fox & Friends First" with host Carley Shimkus, Fite said she was "concerned" about what she was seeing, but that health care workers "had a lot of practice over March and April" in regards to the creation of makeshift hospital beds.
Visitors wearing masks to protect against the spread of COVID-19 pose for photos at the Alamo, which remains closed, in San Antonio last month. Cases of COVID-19 have spiked in Texas to over 200,000, according to government figures. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
"Now that we've got so many cases coming up...at least a lot of the patients now are younger and not quite as sick -- but, because of the volume, we have a lot of very sick people too. So, we may have to go to the next phase of opening up something like a stadium," she said.
On Tuesday, Texas reported more than 10,000 new coronavirus cases, obliterating its previous record for single-day increases. The day's 10,028 confirmed cases eclipse Texas' previous record of 8,258, which the Lonestar State set on Saturday.
Hospitalizations are also reaching record highs, with the state surpassing 8,000 hospitalizations for the first time over the weekend. According to the nonprofit COVID Tracking Project, Texas has more than 9,200 hospitalized patients as of Tuesday.
At least two counties announced that their hospitals had already reached full capacity, NPR reported Wednesday.
According to The Texas Tribune, nearly 14 percent of new U.S. COVID-19 cases are recorded in Texas.
"Texans were really good in March and April about socially distancing, staying at home, wearing masks, [and] things like that," Fite told Shimkus. "And then, once things opened up a lot more beginning about May 1 and then especially once Memorial Day hit, people did get out more and more. And, you would see pictures of crowds, people standing shoulder-to-shoulder, not wearing masks.
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"It seemed to deteriorate at that point," she said.
"Well, as physicians, we hope people will start even harder to follow our recommendations. Particularly staying at home and especially if they're over 65 or have chronic illnesses, but paying attention to social distancing and masking and washing hands, avoiding large events -- those [types] of things," Fite concluded.