Tarrant County preps contingency plan in case it runs out of ICU beds

FORT WORTH, Texas - Tarrant County detailed part of its plan in case it runs out of ICU beds.

New ICU patients would be directed to other regional hospitals, and some surgical and medical centers could be used as temporary ICUs.

Tarrant County reported 860 new cases on Tuesday and 890 COVID patients currently hospitalized.

And with just 18 available ICU beds left in the county, Tarrant County Public Health Director Dr. Vinny Taneja is concerned hospitals are reaching a boiling point.

“Just for consideration, we’re a county of almost 2.1 million people. 18 ICU beds remaining. That’s one traffic accident, a building fire. Anything like that could take those out,” he said.

Meanwhile, the North Texas Trauma Service Region E marked a second consecutive day on Tuesday of COVID hospital bed utilization exceeding 15%. Tarrant County hospitals were even higher at around 20%.

“I was getting a little optimistic for a couple of days,” Dr. Taneja said. “We were below 15%, but then yesterday we jumped back above.”

Of the 19 counties in the trauma region, Tarrant County has the highest number of COVID cases with no signs of a downward trend.

But the last 10,000 cases came in the last six days, just one week after Thanksgiving gatherings.

The Joint Emergency Operations Center is ready to support the hospitals if ICU beds in Tarrant County hit 100% capacity.

Incident Commander Brandon Bennett says they’ll start directing new ICU patients to other regional hospitals and convert existing surgical and medical centers to temporary ICU facilities if necessary.

After listening to several complaints about business closures and mask requirements from frustrated residents, Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley revisited his warning two weeks ago ahead of the holiday.

“I’m asking you to work with us in protecting our community. Please do those things that are necessary to protect your family,” he said. “That was the statement I made prior to Thanksgiving.”