Texas dispatches thousands of health workers in COVID surge

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is sending 8,100 contract health workers across the state to help deal with a surge of patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

The nurses, respiratory therapists and other contract staff "definitely arrived here at a pivotal moment", Dr Esmaeil Porsa, president and CEO of Harris Health System, told the Texas Tribune.

"They did exactly what I had hoped that they would do, which is allowing us the opportunity of a couple of things: to provide a little bit of relief for front-line staff who have been running around ragged, but also created an opportunity for us to expand our capacity," said Porsa.

Abbott's move came after hospitals and local health officials complained that they were having to outbid each other to hire contract nurses amid a statewide shortage of hospital staff.

W. Stephen Love, president and CEO of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council said that competition among hospitals meant "they're going to take from Peter to give to Paul, so to speak. That's why using the state with their purchasing power (is important)."

It is the second time the state has taken such action. At the height of the state's winter surge, almost 14,000 medical workers were deployed across the state, according to the Texas State Health Services Department (DSHS). From July 2020 to early August 2021, the state spent more than $5 billion in federal disaster funds and coronavirus relief funds on medical personnel.

Carrie Williams, spokesperson for the Texas Hospital Association, said many hospitals have reached their limits.

"This surge has come faster and stronger than previous surges, and it comes at a time when the front line is burned out," Williams said in a statement.

Texas hospitals and health officials have complained that they had to outbid each other to hire medical staff amid a personnel shortage.

According to DSHS, the state's hospitals requested more than 15,000 temporary staffers between Aug 12-25. As of Aug 25, almost 4,000 have been deployed, mostly to the state's most populous counties and metro areas.

DSHS data show that statewide, 13,768 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized as of Sunday, accounting for more than 20 percent of all hospitalizations. In some trauma service areas, the COVID-19 patients accounted for more than 35 percent of those hospitalized.

During mid-August, at least 89 Texas hospitals were out of hospital beds.

A significant portion — 29 percent — of the hospitalized patients are between 30-49 years old, almost doubling the January rate.

Last month, more than 3,437 Texans died of COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, bringing the overall death toll to 56,865 as of Sunday.

Porsa said everyone who has died since Jan 1 at LBJ Hospital and Ben Taub Hospital in the Harris Health System from COVID-19 had been unvaccinated.

DSHS data show as of Aug 28, 56.5 percent of Texas' population has received at least one dose, and 47.1 percent are fully vaccinated. In several counties, the vaccination rate is below 20 percent, with the lowest at 15.2 percent.

"We will run out of options at some point, and this is really important for people to realize that this cannot go on forever, and they know what the solution is," said Porsa.