DFW Hospital Council says North Texas hospitals at a critical point in stopping spread of COVID-19

DALLAS - The Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council said North Texas hospitals are at a critical point.

The council said North Texas needs to flatten the coronavirus curve, because if we don’t, it’s going to affect the supply of equipment, like medical masks and bed capacity.

Leaders across the state have said there’s a shortage of masks among hospitals, nursing homes, and for first responders.

The hospital council said it saw this coming, and the next few weeks will be very important to see how many people we can keep out of hospitals.

[REPORTER: “Are there hospitals that have a complete shortage of masks, or is it most likely they’re looking at weeks down the line, they might not have enough? Or is there an immediate need right now?”]

“Of the hospitals on the hospital council, I have not heard of any that have run out, but I’ve heard supplies are low and they’re having to stay on top of it and manage it. So again, as I said and as we stated three weeks ago when this started, we were prepared and we did our best to be on top of or medical supplies, but as we look and forecast for the volume and search could go, we want to be very, very judicious so that we preserve, as best we can, our PPE and our medical supplies,” President and CEO of the DFW Hospital Council Stephen Love said.

“The message to our hospital workers is we thank you. You’re the up-front heroes. You’re on the front lines, you’re really on top of this and we’re going to do everything we can to protect the workforce, protect the patient, and we’re going to do everything we can to conserve PPE and surgical masks,” Love added.

“We need to focus a little bit more on stay at home, and what are some of the things we can do between essential and nonessential services,” Love said.

“We don’t want people to panic but we also want to have credibility with people, and that credibility is founded on being as open and honest and candid as we can and our hospitals have been prepared,” Love said. “They want to serve the people, they serve the public health of the community, but we have to also be honest as we look at volume, as we look at potential surge we have to be prepared.”

Love also applauded some of Governor Greg Abbott’s actions on Sunday, like waiving certain requirements to get more nurses into the workforce.