Mark Escott, MD, interim Austin-Travis County health authority, said ICUs could reach capacity by Jan. 15, adding that the process of converting the convention center could begin later this week or early next week.
“It seems very clear to us that we are going to run out of hospital beds and that we are going to have to stretch resources to meet the needs of the community,” he said during a local press briefing, according to the report.
In July, the facility was staged as a field hospital for up to 1,500 COVID-19 patients, though it’s unknown how many patients it would be set up for this time.
As of Jan. 6, 13,628 patients in Texas were hospitalized with COVID-19 — a record high for the state, according to The Atlantic’s COVID-19 Tracking Project.
More articles on patient flow:
Texas Health Resources suspends electives at all 14 hospitals
1 in 4 children visited an urgent care, retail clinic in 2019
Steward closes maternity ward at Ohio hospital
