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COVID-19 hospitalizations in greater Houston area are on rise

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Published  November 20, 2020 6:09pm CST
Coronavirus
FOX 26 Houston

COVID-19 hospitalizations in the greater Houston area are on the rise

Memorial Hermann hospitalizations have increased by 53 cases in just one day alone. Other hospitals around the Houston area are feeling the same effects.

COVID-19 cases continue to surge across Greater Houston and hospitals are feeling the effects.

"We're seeing a pretty rapid rise in hospitalizations across the Greater Houston area. For example [Thursday], Memorial Hermann had about 260 patients in the hospital with or suspected to have COVID-19. Today, it's 313," said David Callender, President and CEO, Memorial Hermann Health System, on Friday.

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"We are all experiencing an increase in admissions pretty consistently particularly over the last five days," said Debra Sukin, CEO of Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital and regional senior vice president, Houston Methodist.

Montgomery County's positivity rate is 10% compared to 8 and 7% in Harris and Fort Bend counties, respectively.

Sukin reports The Woodlands Hospital is slightly more COVID-19 patients.

"Our overall admissions to the hospital since October 31st, have actually been 19.5% for patients with COVID," Sukin explained.

She compares that to 15.9% of all hospitalizations in their north region hospitals which include The Woodlands, Willowbrook, and West.

In their south region which includes Baytown, Clear Lake, and Sugar Land, 14.4% are COVID-19 patients.

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"When you look over the last 14 days we've all experienced the crescendo back up and we're trying to caution everyone to really put those tools back in place to bend the curve once again," she added.

Those tools are practicing social distancing, wearing masks, and washing hands frequently.

For Montgomery County, UT's School of Public Health reports a seven-day moving average of 104 new cases

State hospital data also shows 34 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in ICU for Montgomery County compared to 16 on November 1.

"We hope that throughout the next two to three weeks that through putting the measures in place, we can begin to see that curve bend," Sukin concluded. "Reason being, this is typically a very busy time for hospitals and healthcare."

On Friday, Montgomery County reported 162 new cases for a total of 15,920 cases. Of those, 10,274 people have clinically recovered.