HARLINGEN, Texas (KVEO) The number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals is decreasing across Texas, but not in the Rio Grande Valley.<\/p>\n
Eleven of the Trauma Service Areas (TSAs) in Texas are now under the high hospitalization threshold defined in Governor Greg Abbotts Executive Order GA-32.<\/p>\n
Thats down from 17 of the 22 back on January 8.<\/p>\n
On February 1, 711 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 in the Rio Grande Valley. That represents nearly one-third of all patients in local hospitals.<\/p>\n
[The number of hospitalizations] hasnt dropped as fast as everybody would have hoped, said Dr. James Castillo, Cameron County Health Authority.<\/p>\n
In fact, it hasnt dropped at all. The percent of COVID-19 patients in hospitals in the Rio Grande Valley has hovered around 20 percent for pretty much the entire month of January. Its like a plateau at the top of a hill, added Castillo.<\/p>\n
According to the DSHS hospitalization data, the Rio Grande Valley was one of only two TSAs to have a higher percentage of people with COVID-19 in the hospital at the end of the week than at the start. The other was TSA U, which is centered around Corpus Christi.<\/p>\n
The Rio Grande Valley has the second-highest rate of COVID-19 patients out of total hospital capacity in the entire state.<\/p>\n
The TSA with the highest rate of COVID-19 patients out of total hospital capacity is TSA T, which is centered around Laredo. <\/p>\n
The RGV has taken measures to help reduce the number of new cases. <\/p>\n
For one thing, counties were required to reduce capacity to businesses as a result of having high hospitalizations. <\/p>\n
Additionally, over 135,000 in the Rio Grande Valley have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the DSHS excel sheet you can view below.<\/p>\n
Both of those factors have helped reduce the number of new cases. Fewer new cases mean fewer people who will potentially need to be hospitalized.<\/p>\n
I would hope to see the number of discharges start exceeding the number of new admissions by quite a bit, said Dr. Castillo. And that trend would need to continue for a few weeks to see a huge change.<\/p>\n
It can take a few weeks for COVID-19 patients who require hospitalization to become stable enough to be sent home.<\/p>\n
Because the RGVs apparent peak in COVID-19 cases was so recent, people who were hospitalized as a result are not yet stable enough to be discharged. <\/p>\n
Unlike in the Summer of 2020, when the Rio Grande Valley was one of the first major COVID-19 hotspots in the country, it seems that here in the Valley, this time, we were running a few weeks behind in the surge, said Dr. Castillo.<\/p>\n
Hospitals are still toeing the line of being overburdened, so people need to be extremely cautious going forward.<\/p>\n
Its about adjusting that level of risk to try and lower it as much as possible, said Dr. Castillo.<\/p>\n
Here are the latest emergency orders from the four counties:<\/p>\n
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See original here: <\/p>\n
Rio Grande Valley has second-highest rate of COVID-19 hospitalization in the state - KGBT-TV<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HARLINGEN, Texas (KVEO) The number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals is decreasing across Texas, but not in the Rio Grande Valley. Continue reading