According to the Dallas Morning News, throughout the summer, when the delta variant spread quickly due to how contagious it is, the number of COVID-19 infections went through a spike. About six weeks ago, North Texas experienced its last peak in hospitalizations due to infections. As of right now, the number of hospitalizations has almost decreased by half.
Dallas Morning News stated, “In Dallas County, the forecast predicts about 400 new daily infections Oct. 28, along with 300 hospitalized coronavirus patients – both numbers roughly a 50% drop from their current levels. An even steeper drop is expected in Tarrant County, to about 300 daily infections and 280 hospitalizations.”
Although numbers are dropping, health experts are still highly recommending the COVID-19 vaccination to combat the coronavirus.
The Washington Post mentions that throughout the United States, the coronavirus seems to be declining, and Dr. Anthony Fauci shared, “We had an acceleration. We had a peak… All three of the parameters – cases, hospitalizations, and deaths – are going down. But we have got to do better than that.”
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also talked about how the sooner people get vaccinated, the sooner people’s lives will return to normal. He said, “We can get to control, without a doubt,” and continued with, “It is within our power and within our capability.”
In a written statement, Jenkins stated, “Please continue to encourage your unvaccinated friends and loved ones to finally take this necessary step to protect themselves and help put an end to this pandemic.”
NBC DFW mentioned that Parkland Hospital has been watching as the infection fades away in patients, but the patients seem to be having extended hospital stays due to persistent symptoms.
Dr. Joseph Chang, Parkland Chief Medical Officer, stated, “We almost have as many patients recovering from COVID-19 in the hospital as we do patients that are here with infectious active COVID.”
According to Chang, on average, a patient admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 will remain there for one week. If there are complications and the patient is sent to the ICU, their stay is closer to one month. It was recently observed that patients affected by COVID, in or out of the ICU, on average, are spending more time hospitalized. Dr. Chang believes that the recent extended stays for these patients are due to the delta variant.
CEO of Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council, Stephen Love, said, “I could talk to any hospital, whether it be in the metroplex or in the rural areas, we have 90 member hospitals, I guarantee you the number one priority is staffing.” Experts believe that healthcare workers are fatigued, especially with caring for patients in critical condition.
Love also stated, “Even though the COVID-19 is coming down as far as hospital census, our overall occupancy is staying the same. So, this is not only a short-term problem, it’s a long-term problem over the next year to five years, we’ve got to look at health care.”
UT Southwestern Medical Clinic updated their report on “COVID-19 Current State Analysis and Forecasting for the DFW Region” on October 13th. The report is “based on real patient data” and “based on testing and hospitalization data.” Their website also states how the report was generated, stating, “We calculate infection rates, which indicate how prevalent COVID-19 is within an age group or community.”
The report shows that the hospitalizations due to COVID-19 infections have decreased by 30% over the past two weeks.
For Dallas County, UT Southwestern Medical Clinic predicts that by November 1st, there will be “300 concurrent hospitalized cases” and about 430 new infections per day.
The report mentions, “Hospital volumes for COVID-19 have decreased 19% compared to one week ago, and 33% compared to two weeks ago, and 47% compared to one month ago.”
Throughout most age groups and counties in North Texas, hospitalizations have continued to drop. Although patients admitted in a pediatric hospital are still above the level from January, the number of those patients being admitted is declining.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association stated in a report that only three percent of confirmed cases reported “age distribution” for Texas through September 26th. In the state of Texas, 0.1% of children between the ages of one to nineteen, have passed away due to COVID-19.
Johns Hopkins Medicine weighs the pros and cons of the COVID-19 vaccination. Their website explains that inflammation of the heart muscle is called myocarditis and inflammation of the lining outside of the heart is called pericarditis.
According to the CDC, in the United States, both of these conditions have been reported from more than a thousand individuals after they were injected with either the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine.
The Johns Hopkins Medicine website mentions, “Considering the hundreds of millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses that have been administered, these reports are rare. The problem occurs more often in adolescents (teens) and young adults, and in males.”
The Johnson and Johnson vaccine can cause blood clots, especially for women who are under 50 years old. The vaccination was temporarily paused, and “after careful review, the FDA and CDC recommended that administration of J&J COVID-19 vaccine could safely resume.”