Mobile medical tents will go up at Lubbock hospitals this week as the facilities continue to deal with a surge in COVID-19 patients.
The tents will provide additional needed beds to help meet the increase in hospitalizations, according to a news release from the City of Lubbock. The first medical tent will go up at Covenant Medical Center. As of early Tuesday evening, that tent was not yet up. A second will go to University Medical Center on Thursday.
Over 22% of hospitalized patients in Lubbock’s 22-county trauma service region have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services. The region has had a COVID-19 hospitalization rate of more than 15% since Oct. 19.
Covenant Health’s Regional Medical Officer Dr. Craig Rhyne said that data point doesn’t reflect the dire situation in Lubbock. Rhyne said one-in-three patients at Covenant Medical Center have the virus.
“The general public does not seem to understand that this is reaching crisis proportions,” Rhyne said.
Rhyne said local hospitals are overwhelmed with patients. On Tuesday, 264 hospital patients had a confirmed case of COVID-19. Over 27% of those patients are in ICUs.
Rhyne added that more healthcare workers are out after being diagnosed or exposed to the coronavirus. He has previously said that staffing is a bigger concern than bed capacity.
The City of Lubbock confirmed an additional 333 cases Tuesday. Since the beginning of the month, 4,041 Lubbockites have been diagnosed with coronavirus. An average of about 383 cases have been confirmed daily the past week.
The city has attributed the cases to community spread. A spike in September was mostly isolated to a younger demographic. Now, Rhyne says that's spread to the broader population.
Deaths related to COVID-19 also continue to climb. Since March, 253 people have died from complications from the disease. Of those deaths, 45 people have died just this month.
Have a news tip? Email Sarah Self-Walbrick at saselfwa@ttu.edu. Follow her reporting on Twitter @SarahFromTTUPM.
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