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Houston-area hospital system CEO confident it has capacity to respond to coronavirus surge
CNBC ^ | Fri, Jun 26 20204:26 PM EDT | Kevin Stankiewicz

Posted on 06/28/2020 5:21:01 AM PDT by Zhang Fei

Dr. David Callender, CEO of Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, told CNBC on Friday that its hospitals continue to have adequate capacity despite Texas’ growing coronavirus outbreak.

“We actually still think we have plenty of capacity to meet the demand for Covid, as well as non-Covid patients” Callender said on “The Exchange.”

Callender, in explaining his confidence about hospital capacity, said the system is “used to dealing with complex patients” and believes it will be able to adjust to increased demand.

“Across our system, we have about 4,000 beds that we can bring into play” for intensive care, he said. “Right now, only about 30% are being utilized for Covid care, so we still have plenty of capacity for Covid patients as well as patients who need hospitalization for other illnesses.”

Doctors and nurses also have learned how to better treat Covid-19 patients after three months of its presence, said Callender, who joined Memorial Hermann in 2019.

“We’re seeing a slightly lower rate in terms of the number of typical hospital bed patients who convert to a need for ICU hospitalization. We’re also using ventilators less frequently,” he said. “We have more drugs at our disposable that we know help limit the severity and duration of the illness. So overall we’re faring better than we did just a couple months ago.”

But ultimately, Callender stressed the importance of Texans following public health protocols to prevent becoming infected with Covid-19.

“We need people to wear masks. We know they’re effective. We’ve stopped the transmission of Covid-19 in our hospitals by wearing masks, maintaining appropriate social distancing, washing our hands and keeping sick employees at home,” he said.

“If we do that,” he added, “we know we can severely limit the spread of this disease.”

(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: 2020election; cnbc; coronavirus; dnctalkingpoint; dnctalkingpoints; election2020; hospital; houston; kag; maga; mediawingofthednc; msnbc; nbc; nobrainscollectively; partisanmediashills; presstitutes; smearmachine; texas; trump
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The key takeaway is that the hysterical tone of coronavirus coverage in the past week or so may be unwarranted. Not only are there ample hospital beds, even without a 100%-guaranteed cure, treatment of serious cases has improved markedly. Texas, for instance, has seen a death rate of 1.6% among people who tested positive, a far cry from the 7.5% encountered in New York. Now, the fact that Texas has had a bunch of cases added on in recent weeks may mean a higher body count soon over there, but the huge difference in death rates per coronavirus case vs New York just jumps out at you.
1 posted on 06/28/2020 5:21:01 AM PDT by Zhang Fei
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To: Sans-Culotte; Fai Mao; The Pack Knight

Ping


2 posted on 06/28/2020 5:21:49 AM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: Zhang Fei

That was the goal. I think we are done here.


3 posted on 06/28/2020 5:35:59 AM PDT by jimfree (My19 y/o granddaughter continues to have more quality exec experience than an 8 year Obama.)
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To: Zhang Fei

They had the whole hair on fire in New York too. Gave them everything they asked for and they hardly used any of it including the ship. Media is a fraud!


4 posted on 06/28/2020 5:41:02 AM PDT by napscoordinator (Trump/Hunter, jr for President/Vice President 2016)
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To: Zhang Fei

Abbott fell for the Corp propaganda liars .
Unreal.


5 posted on 06/28/2020 6:07:52 AM PDT by ncalburt (Gop DC Globalists)
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To: Zhang Fei
There's a persistent myth that more cases now leads to more hospitalizations weeks from now. That is not true. People are tested and admitted the same day, or admitted, then tested the same day. The rest of the tests are cases with low symptoms, or no symptoms if they test a close contact who picked it up and didn't even know they caught it.

The myth is that low symptom cases progress into serious cases. That happens but it is extremely rare.

6 posted on 06/28/2020 7:32:54 AM PDT by palmer (Democracy Dies Six Ways from Sunday)
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To: Zhang Fei

New Yorkers, including their governor, are apparently desperate to see Covid ravage Texas and Florida, as though they would rather see tens of thousands more dead rather than have to admit that they handled Covid badly. Their liberal friends in a Texas are just as desperate to see the same, rather than admit that Abbott handled it right.


7 posted on 06/28/2020 7:51:05 AM PDT by The Pack Knight
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To: Zhang Fei

Key takeaway, they don’t want elective procedures shut down again....”we over-hyped covid surge and we don’t want to get our revenue cut”

In other words, we got burnt by playing politics.


8 posted on 06/28/2020 7:53:50 AM PDT by dila813
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To: Zhang Fei

I’ve never seen a city with more hospitals than Houston. The system is enormous. In fact, I wondered why the heck so many were being built. Same with Austin and San Antonio.

I know people who had surgery recently who were told that they couldn’t have surgery during the peak of the COVID lockdown so it stands to reason that these procedures are happening now. The expert quoted also seemed to think summer is simply “busy season” for them normally.

But, let’s say it was the enormous crisis the panic porn folks claim it is. I’m sure Trump could send over one of his hospital ships - the ones demanded by NYC and L.A. back in April and then barely used. It could be docked in the Houston Ship Channel just east of Houston and - voila! - more beds.


9 posted on 06/28/2020 8:15:38 AM PDT by OrangeHoof (Isaiah 5:20 "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.")
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To: Zhang Fei

Hospitals can only stay open when they can pay their bills. And that takes 80%+ bed occupancy. Especially ICU. They want 95% ICU occupancy. Hint: They ain’t there because “covid.” Maybe 20%, no more. Rest are typical cases. Surgery recoveries, mainly. Surgeries that were put off during lockdowns.


10 posted on 06/28/2020 8:43:14 AM PDT by Basket_of_Deplorables (This is all a communist plan!)
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To: Zhang Fei

Snort. Houston and Austin, TX are prepping their coliseums for hospital beds so, of course, they’ll have plenty of beds. The head state health authority, Dr. Eric something, is threatening to shut the state down again.

No, cases haven’t improved. They will quickly become worse because 1) there is a test shortage, 2) there’s a week or so turn around for test results so the Austin mayor has stated no one will be tested unless they’re sick. Yeah, we’re back to 4 months ago again with testing. HCQ has to be administered early, not a week or two late with these test results.

The death rate in my county is 3% and those happened after TX reopened.


11 posted on 06/28/2020 9:01:14 AM PDT by bgill
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To: palmer

That very well could be true for those that seek out help because of symptoms, but would not hold true for those tested who have come in contact with someone with Covid 19, they can test positive with no symptoms, the truth is likely somewhere in the middle.


12 posted on 06/28/2020 10:16:07 AM PDT by Almondjoy
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13 posted on 06/28/2020 10:51:25 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Zhang Fei

I still think thete is another takeaway though. I think the doctor requests everyone to follow proper health measures when you are out and about to ensure the system does not get to an over capacity situation.


14 posted on 06/28/2020 10:56:11 AM PDT by hawkaw
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To: Zhang Fei

“The key takeaway is that the hysterical tone of coronavirus coverage in the past week or so may be unwarranted.”

The key takeaway should have nothing to do with hospital beds or body counts.

The key takeaway should be that when a spike in cases is directly correlated with a spike in testing, an outbreak is not indicated at all.

Yet, they continue to use the word “outbreak“, and they do so to sow fear for political reasons.

If a sharp increase in the number new gold mines were to results in a sharp increase in gold strikes, would that indicate that there is suddenly more gold in the ground? Of course not.

Same with testing for the virus.

Come on folks, this is not rocket science.


15 posted on 06/28/2020 12:38:53 PM PDT by enumerated
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To: Zhang Fei

Here’s your hysterical tone.

Houston hit 100% full today with their ICU beds. They have ordered refrigerated trucks from Georgia be on stand by.


16 posted on 06/28/2020 4:53:59 PM PDT by bgill
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To: bgill

[Here’s your hysterical tone.

Houston hit 100% full today with their ICU beds. They have ordered refrigerated trucks from Georgia be on stand by.]


100% isn’t a today number. It’s a Wednesday number, subsequently debunked by the Memorial Hermann CEO on Friday at a CNBC interview:

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Houston-hospitals-hit-100-base-ICU-capacity-15372256.php

The newspapers are getting hysterical because updates aren’t being provided over the weekend. How is that different from prior weekends? They don’t say.


17 posted on 06/28/2020 5:07:46 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: Zhang Fei

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/aph-finalizing-plans-for-care-site-outside-of-hospitals-for-hundreds-of-covid-19-patients/


18 posted on 06/28/2020 5:11:41 PM PDT by bgill
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To: Zhang Fei

https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1277298670514270209/photo/1


19 posted on 06/28/2020 5:13:31 PM PDT by utford
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To: Zhang Fei

Texas opened too soon. There’s a lot of jackasses here that Abbott tried to placate and things are getting out of control. My I know someone whose co-worker just died from Covid at 32 years old. It’s really bad.


20 posted on 06/28/2020 5:16:32 PM PDT by Monty22002
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