Texas Medical Center sees over 40% spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations in two weeks

In the last two weeks, Texas Medical Center-affiliated hospitals have seen its COVID-19 patient numbers increase to 883 as of June 18, a 41% increase in two weeks, according to the center's daily data update.

The jump in hospitalizations at the medical center comes as the Greater Houston area has experienced an influx of new COVID cases, with over 1,250 new cases reported June 16, and about 700 on June 17, according to the medical center.

As of June 18, TMC hospitals are experiencing a 6.4% average growth in COVID-19 daily hospitalizations, a trend that started May 18, saw a resurgence May 29, a spike on June 13, then another spike starting June 15. As a result, between June 15-17, the medical center reported average daily COVID-19-related hospitalizations of 166, the highest number of new daily cases since TMC began tracking the data March 31.

Patient discharges are on the rise, however, with nearly 712 more discharges on June 18 than at the same time last week.

As of June 17, 1,268 Intensive Care Units were in use out of 1,462 total TMC has available for normal operation. As of June 16, 17% of occupied ICUs were filled by COVID-19 patients. It’s important to note that the medical center has a planned surge capacity of 2,649 intensive care units available.

Over the last two weeks, the total number of COVID-related deaths the medical center has seen has increased by about 20%, from 382 on June 5 to 474 on June 18.

Figures come from daily COVID-19 data released by the medical center, which includes numbers from member institutions spanning St. Luke’s, Harris Health System, Houston Methodist, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Hermann and Texas Children’s Hospital across nine counties, including Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller counties.