Phase 2 expands capacity by an additional 373 ICU beds, as well as more staff and equipment.
Of the ICU beds in use, 480 were occupied by COVID-19 patients, according to data reported by the medical center on July 1. The updated numbers come as Texas Medical Center hospitalized 326 new COVID-19 patients on June 30.
Across nine counties in Greater Houston, the hospital member systems of the medical center reported 1,747 COVID-19 patients on June 30, a 12% jump since June 28 and a 44% increase week over week.
As COVID-19 patient numbers continue to grow, the number of beds in use grows along with them, TMC data shows, which includes general use medical/surgical beds and ICU beds. In the past week, the medical center reported a 6.3% daily growth in occupancy of medical/surgical beds, and a 4% daily growth in occupancy of ICU beds.
The medical center projects that with such growth, TMC will likely not move into Phase 3 within at least two weeks.
Such a move would mean further planned utilization of Phase 2 levers of surge capacity to provide additional temporary ICU capacity, with 504 more beds.
“This can be managed by appropriately transferring patients from ICU to Medical/Surgical beds and potentially by delaying some procedures,” the TMC wrote on its dashboard slides about the data.
