Texas health system closes emergency center, will transfer staff as COVID-19 cases surge

Las Palmas Del Sol Healthcare temporarily closed its emergency center in El Paso, Texas, and said it plans to divert patients and move to other facilities within the health system, a spokesperson confirmed to Becker's Hospital Review.

The El Paso-based health system shut down the emergency center July 11 "due to a surge in patient volume and in an effort to better deploy clinical and emergency resources across Las Palmas Del Sol Healthcare," according to a statement from the health system. The center is still closed, a health system spokesperson said. No timeline was given for its reopening.

The health system said it decided to redeploy the emergency center staff to "help ensure we are maximizing the use of our greatest resource, which is our people."

The system also said it may transfer patients between facilities within its network or other local health systems "in order to provide the most appropriate care."

The decision to shut down the emergency center came as COVID-19 cases spiked in Texas, which has reported 265,748 and 3,252 as of 1:19 p.m. CDT July 13, according to The New York Times. On July 11, the state reported more than 8,000 new coronavirus cases.

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