North Texas Hospital Workers Describe Their Fatigue Treating COVID-19 Patients In Video
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Warnings from healthcare community are becoming more urgent, as hospitalizations for COVID-19 climb.
In a video shared by Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas, hospital workers describe their fatigue.
"I don't think we anticipated it being this long of a battle," says a woman in scrubs.
"Those healthcare heroes are tired," said Texas Health Resources CEO, Barclay Berdan.
In a statement Tuesday, he warned of the "tremendous burden" on his employees.
"What I'm worried about is the next two months as we work through the periods of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's," he said.
If the virus continues to spread at its current rate, the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth projects hospitals in Dallas and Tarrant counties "may reach maximum capacity in the next 30 days."
Within the next week or so, local health officials expect retailers and restaurants throughout north central Texas will see occupancy limits return to 50%.
Under the governor's current executive orders, a rollback is automatically triggered when COVID patients occupy 15% of hospital beds in a designated trauma service area for seven days in a row.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area is currently seeing a rate hovering around 15%.
"I know that that's a challenging issue for many people who own businesses and are trying to basically survive through the challenges of this pandemic. And my message is that we can all avoid these types of issues if we in fact we follow preventative measures," said Berdan.
His request to help brings hospitalizations down – wear a mask, wash your hands frequently, avoid crowds, and social distance.
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