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Governor Abbott announced that elective surgeries would be temporarily banned in Harris (Houston), Bexar (San Antonio), Dallas and Travis (Austin) counties in order to keep hospital beds available for coronavirus patients. None of the reopening phases already allowed are being reversed, but the anticipated future relaxation of capacity restrictions on some businesses has been paused.
This is what responsible governance looks like. The capacity for nuance and the application of specifically tailored policies for regions that require them, while allowing those that don't to function normally and without restriction.
A light hand, rather than the heavy, domineering, excessive, intolerant, one-size-fits-all that less responsible governors have advocated and appear to still support.
Perhaps if he'd taken a heavier hand your cases would be far lower.
I'm sure there's a large segment of the population there that will be angry he's canceling surgeries and not moving to the next phase. Sounds like you're somewhere in the middle. In NY I hear from a lot of people who want everything opened to full capacity NOW, consequences be damned.
Perhaps if he'd taken a heavier hand your cases would be far lower.
I'm sure there's a large segment of the population there that will be angry he's canceling surgeries and not moving to the next phase. Sounds like you're somewhere in the middle. In NY I hear from a lot of people who want everything opened to full capacity NOW, consequences be damned.
The primary people that will be angered by the blanket cancellation of elective surgeries will be the hospitals, medical doctors and others who provide these services. There will also be a very small group of people who were anticipating getting these surgeries done who will have to wait who will be some mix between disappointed and angry.
I live in Harris county, which is one of the four counties affected by this order. I am confident that people support Governor Abbott's decisions about this in no small part because he has demonstrated that he is trying to keep everything as open as he reasonably can, and he is clearly taking a careful, customized approach that is not excessive or overbearing.
The people of the state of Texas are very appreciative of the approach Governor Abbott is taking, which is not all the way to either extreme. He is making responsible, carefully crafted policy decisions for the people of the state of Texas in this difficult time.
According to the CEO's of four large Houston area hospitals, they have plenty of capacity for coronavirus patients and one of them noted that having ICU upwards of 90% is actually pretty normal.
Four Houston hospitals that are part of the Texas Medical Center system say they have ample capacity to meet the COVID-19 surge. On Wednesday, the CEOs of Texas Medical Center hospitals sent out a letter saying that the capacity in their intensive care units was "increasingly stretched."
Although 97% of the ICU beds are occupied, the CEOs say that the letter was misinterpreted. "Just that number is being misinterpreted and, quite frankly, we’re concerned that there is a level of alarm in the community that is unwarranted right now," said Dr. Marc Boom, the CEO of Houston Methodist Hospital, said at a virtual news conference.
"We have plenty of capacity," said Dr. David Callender, the CEO of Memorial Hermann Health System. Charles Stokes, Memorial Hermann Health System's former CEO, and Mark Wallace, the CEO of Texas Children’s Hospital, were also part of the news conference. The CEOs said they have a plan in place to use additional beds in other areas of their hospitals to meet a COVID-19 surge.
Boom also noted that an ICU occupancy rate in the 90s is not uncommon. In an interview on Wednesday he said that healthcare workers are learning more about how to treat COVID-19 patients. According to the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council's dashboard, ICU beds in the Houston area are 90% occupied. Over 31% of those patients tested positive for the coronavirus.
Still, as these CEO's warned earlier in the week, their ICU capacity was 'increasingly stretched'. Nevertheless, only 31% of the people in ICU's are apparently there as a result of the coronavirus.
So Governor Abbott is doing two things here, I do believe. One is he is being responsibly cautious in an effort to help make sure the hospital capacity is not unnecessarily overwhelmed. Also, he is sending a message to the hospital leaders to manage their P.R. rhetoric carefully, if they want to see this revenue constraining ban on elective surgeries alleviated sooner rather than later.
According to the CEO's of four large Houston area hospitals, they have plenty of capacity for coronavirus patients and one of them noted that having ICU upwards of 90% is actually pretty normal.
Still, as these CEO's warned earlier in the week, their ICU capacity was 'increasingly stretched'. Nevertheless, only 31% of the people in ICU's are apparently there as a result of the coronavirus.
So Governor Abbott is doing two things here, I do believe. One is he is being responsibly cautious in an effort to help make sure the hospital capacity is not unnecessarily overwhelmed. Also, he is sending a message to the hospital leaders to manage their P.R. rhetoric carefully, if they want to see this revenue constraining ban on elective surgeries alleviated sooner rather than later.
The ICU's being one-third full with COVID patients is not reassuring, not one bit.
We are Harris County residents too and think Gov. Abbott has done a terrible job. He undermined his own executive orders almost immediately by attacking local officials who attempted to enforce them (as they are duty bound to do), and then he quickly backtracked and reopened without any regard to public health metrics. That is textbook example of indecisive and weak leadership.
The ICU's being one-third full with COVID patients is not reassuring, not one bit.
We are Harris County residents too and think Gov. Abbott has done a terrible job. He undermined his own executive orders almost immediately by attacking local officials who attempted to enforce them (as they are duty bound to do), and then he quickly backtracked and reopened without any regard to public health metrics. That is textbook example of indecisive and weak leadership.
So, let me guess. You would still have us in lockdown then. Amiright?
According to the CEO's of four large Houston area hospitals, they have plenty of capacity for coronavirus patients and one of them noted that having ICU upwards of 90% is actually pretty normal.
Still, as these CEO's warned earlier in the week, their ICU capacity was 'increasingly stretched'. Nevertheless, only 31% of the people in ICU's are apparently there as a result of the coronavirus.
So Governor Abbott is doing two things here, I do believe. One is he is being responsibly cautious in an effort to help make sure the hospital capacity is not unnecessarily overwhelmed. Also, he is sending a message to the hospital leaders to manage their P.R. rhetoric carefully, if they want to see this revenue constraining ban on elective surgeries alleviated sooner rather than later.
Lol, "only".
The numbers are numbers, no amount of sugarcoating helps.
What upsets me the most is we had the benefit of time, and not long ago were well positioned to handle this well
So, let me guess. You would still have us in lockdown then. Amiright?
No, not necessarily. But when you had the Republican Governor attacking local Democratic leaders for enforcing his own orders, and the Republican Senator Cruz (*shudder* what a creep) making a public spectacle of getting a televised haircut at a salon which refused to comply, and a Republican Representative like Crenshaw constantly spewing bilious nonsense like "Leftists want you to lose your "freedoms"" and taking precautions is "cowardly", stupid stuff like basic sanitary hygiene became politicized. (Never mind the incompetence and foolish swagger even higher up the GOP food chain.)
We have a home in Seattle as well where the city is just now moved into Phase 2 and the outbreak has been significantly contained since March, when Seattle was the original epicenter of the outbreak in the US. We see first hand the stark difference in people's behavior between the two cities. In Seattle mask-wearing is ubiquitous, people keep their distance in lines etc; in Houston not only do the majority of people not wear masks, they harass those who do. There is little to no social distancing, crowded bars and restaurants. Yeehaw.
The lockdowns were a temporary measure to put the brake on, but it's the people in control of the speed of reopening. Texas really blew it there, and that incompetence started from the top with Republicans gunning it and calling any efforts at speed limits stupid.
DH is the only member of our household going back and forth since March. We won't allow our kids to visit Houston at all.
ETA: Ironically DH was quarantined for 14 days in Houston after visiting us in Seattle per Gov. Abbott's order, faced a $1000 fine and up to 180 days in jail should the officers checking in on him find him away from home. He was pulled off the plane by TX State Troopers to have all his contact and address information recorded.
Last edited by fnh; 06-25-2020 at 02:03 PM..
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