Austin health officials warn 16 ICU beds remain for 2.3 million residents as COVID cases increase

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Health officials in Austin, Texas, issued a stern warning Friday: There are only about 16 ICU beds left in the entire district, an 11-county area with more than two million people. The city said it was the lowest number of intensive care beds available in the area since the pandemic began.

“The latest surge of COVID-19 is placing extraordinary pressure on our hospitals, emergency departments and healthcare professionals, and is also posing an additional challenge to hospital staff due to the long-running nursing shortage,” a group of hospitals said in a statement issued by the city.

All hospitals in Travis County — where Austin is located — and 10 other counties are part of what the state calls Trauma Zone O. Trauma Zone O serves about 2.3 million people, according to the city statement.

The Austin Department of Public Health urged the community to act “when the situation becomes critical.”

APH urges the community to act when the situation becomes critical. The region is now facing the lowest capacity of staffed ICU beds since the start of the pandemic with only 16 staff available.

📌 More: https://t.co/dbnHqlqW7R📌 Vaccine: https://t.co/uNEZHhMj3c (1/4) pic.twitter.com/4YXSavkIAc

– Austin Public Health (@AusPublicHealth) July 30, 2021

“We’re running out of time and our community must act now,” Dr. Desmar Wooks of the Austin Travis County Health Authority said in the city statement. “Our ICU capacity has reached a critical point where the level of risk to the entire community has increased dramatically and not just for those who need treatment for COVID.”

The tragic numbers come as Austin struggles with a spike in hospitalization. According to data collected by the city and Travis County, the average 7-day hospitalization has increased by more than 47% over the past week. In that time, the number of COVID-19 patients in local intensive care units jumped from 91 to 117, a 28% increase, and the number of patients on ventilators increased from 47 to 65, a 38% increase, according to the city’s statement.

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In July, more than 4,600 new cases of COVID-19 and 19 deaths were reported to the Austin Department of Public Health, the city added.

In a joint statement at an Austin City Council meeting on Tuesday, a local nurse said her hospital’s intensive care unit capacity had recently “exploded.”

“She’s literally all on ventilators and/or ECMO,” the nurse practitioner wrote in the statement.

They added, “I am angry. I am very angry.” “I’m sad and terrified too. Round three would have been completely preventable. It’s devastating to see and experience first hand.”

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