The COVID-19 crisis is scaring hospital officials in Texas, they told senators.

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Texas hospitals are on the brink of disaster, on the verge of being completely overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, executives of some of the state’s largest hospitals told lawmakers on Tuesday.

Civil servant after civil servant, they have used their strongest descriptions to make lawmakers understand: Hospitalizations are increasing too rapidly for them to keep up, and it may be too late to do anything about it.

“While more vaccinations are the only thing that can ultimately end this pandemic, we need more decisive action now to prevent a catastrophe like the one we only imagined last year”, Dr Esmaeil Porsa , CEO of Harris Health System in Houston, told the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Tuesday.

“This crisis right now is really leading us to a place where it is truly unsustainable,” said Dr. Joseph Chang, chief medical officer of Parkland Health and Hospital System in Dallas.

The number of COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals is accelerating faster than at any other time in the pandemic, as the contagious delta variant spreads unchecked, mostly among the unvaccinated.

Hospitals are struggling to hire nurses as rising hospitalization rates increase both the demand for and the cost of their compensation, as well as that of other temporary healthcare workers. The result is hundreds of vacancies and a fraction of the workforce they need at the worst possible time, hospital officials said. And many hospitals just don’t have the money to hire as many nurses as they need, even if they could find them, officials said.

“I’m scared of what’s coming,” Porsa said.

“We can’t compete,” Chang said.

Hospital officials pleaded with the state to help track down nurses to help relieve emergency room staff and treat the sick. This kind of assistance would mean that hospitals would no longer have to compete for emergency workers.

“On behalf of Texas State Hospitals, we need a cohesive, organized approach that does not pit hospitals against each other in finding staff,” said Marc Boom, President of the Texas Hospital Association , to legislators during the hearing. .

This movement is already underway. On Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott said the state’s Department of Health Services would work to bring in nurses from out of state to alleviate the shortage. Hospitals can expect to see additional nurses in the next five days, said Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas emergency management division.

But Kidd and some senators told hospital officials on Tuesday that cities and counties should dip into their collective $ 10.5 billion in federal stimulus to pay for additional nurses – and seek reimbursement from the Federal Agency for emergency management. Some city and county leaders have been reluctant to use this money for fear it will reduce their ability to help their communities recover from the pandemic, which is the intent of these funds.

To date, only 56 of 216 cities in Texas have requested a refund through FEMA, Kidd said. “It’s crazy to me that these federal dollars stay there and local governments don’t take them away and use them,” he said.

In addition to the shortage of nurses, the state’s vaccination rate remained relatively stable for weeks. Nearly 54% of eligible Texans have been fully immunized, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

In recent weeks, the number of residents seeking their first dose has increased – but not quickly enough, according to health officials. Even if Texas were 100% vaccinated, it wouldn’t help ease the pinch state hospitals are in, Porsa said.

“If this continues, and I have no reason to believe it won’t, my hospital will not be able to handle this under any circumstances,” Porsa said. “There is no way the region can handle this. “

As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 10,000 Texans were hospitalized with COVID-19. In parts of the state, the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals threatens to exceed past peaks.

That number is only fifteen patients from San Antonio’s peak summer, said Eric Epley, CEO of the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council for Trauma.

“We are in crisis,” Epley said. “The curve is not slowing down. We are definitely at a point where we need urgently.”

Disclosure: Parkland Health and Hospital System and the Texas Hospital Association financially supported The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization funded in part by donations from members, foundations, and corporate sponsors. Financial support plays no role in the journalism of the Tribune. Find a full list of them here.

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