HOUSTON — One major local hospital reported on Thursday their highest number of COVID hospitalizations so far this pandemic.
Dr. David Callender, president and CEO of Memorial Hermann Hospital System, said he’s concerned about people waiting in the emergency room because of the influx of COVID patients.
He’s also worried about other patients avoiding coming for the same reason.
Dr. Callender said he’s not sure when this surge will peak. The Delta variant is more contagious and pushing numbers up more quickly than ever.
He said Memorial Hermann has had to create additional bed capacity. He added that staffing is stretched but able to handle it for now.
He’s worried two things could change that – more COVID patients coming to the hospital and more staff staying home.
“A number of the family members of our workforce are in schools, and if they contract COVID, that means they go home, that means the parents have to be home with them, which puts more pressure on staffing at our facilities, so we’re very worried about that right now,” Dr. Callender said.
Hospital officials have requested more staffing from outside sources.
Dr. Callender said wearing a mask and getting vaccinated are the two best ways to bring the numbers down.
About 95 percent of his system’s patients are unvaccinated.