Denton County is reporting a new high in one hospitalization statistic — the percentage of total inpatient beds taken up by COVID-19 patients — and is approaching new peaks in others as the delta variant’s surge continues.
While this metric had dipped to under 2% as recently as last month, it has come roaring back, with Denton County hospitals reporting a new high Monday afternoon: 28.7% of their total inpatient beds were filled by COVID-19 patients.
By Tuesday, the number dropped to 27.8%, which still eclipsed the previous record set during the winter surge. Tuesday’s seven-day average for the metric came in at 25.9%, the highest weeklong snapshot the county has yet reported.
The previous single-day record for the hospitalization metric was 26.9%, set on Dec. 27 and Jan. 10. Gov. Greg Abbott previously used the hospitalization metric to determine which regions would require occupancy limits and other restrictions meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Speaking at Tuesday’s county Commissioners Court meeting, Denton County Public Health Director Matt Richardson called the development an “unfortunate milestone.”
“That was a very unpleasant record for us to have attained,” Richardson said. “That remains a concern and, really, our defense has got to be vaccination and masks.”
Other coronavirus hospital metrics are on the rise but have yet to set records. COVID-19 patients made up 32.4% of total inpatient hospitalizations Monday and 31.1% Tuesday, both under December’s peak of 36%. As far as the raw number of COVID-19 hospitalizations, county hospitals reported 208 occupied beds Tuesday, the highest since January but lower than the winter high of 235.
Intensive care unit occupancy came in at 96.5% by Tuesday afternoon, with 83 beds occupied and just three available. Combined, the stats speak to the issue health officials have warned about in recent weeks: that while the current coronavirus surge has yet to reach winter levels, hospitals are seeing a similar level of strain due to staffing shortages in nurses, particularly those who are ICU-qualified.
Looking at the county’s epidemic curve, which shows cases by onset of symptoms rather than when DCPH first reports them, another trend emerges. Most age groups are either stagnating, slightly declining or slightly increasing, with the exception of one: children and teens ages 0-19, a group that has seen consistent and substantial weekly increases for about two months.
An image from the Commissioners Court's Tuesday meeting shows part of a chart tracking the number of COVID-19 cases among children and teens 0-19 years old over the pandemic.
For the week of Aug. 15-21 — still being investigated and thus subject to additional cases — the 0-19 group has accounted for 744 cases, up from 574 the week prior and 478 the week before that. That puts coronavirus cases in children less than 100 away from the 833 weekly high set back in January.
“The other age ranges sort of plateau in the last three weeks but this one has not plateaued,” Richardson said. “This one continues to increase and we remain concerned. … Our fears of continued transmission are coming to fruition there.”
Overtime pay increase for detention officers
At Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners approved a temporary overtime pay increase for the county jail’s detention officers, with County Judge Andy Eads and Sheriff Tracy Murphree stating the change will help alleviate ongoing staffing problems for the law enforcement department.
“One of those ramifications [of COVID-19] is we’ve had a really difficult time here at Denton County, and I would say the jails across Texas have had a very difficult time, attracting and retaining qualified applicants and employees for detention officers,” Eads said. “Compensation is one of the things we need to look at.”
To that end, commissioners approved an increase in overtime pay from time-and-a-half to double-time that will last from Sept. 11 to Dec. 31. Murphree said many detention officers have been leaving, largely either for other jobs or due to the conditions of the work, including overtime requirements. The jail currently has 210 detention officers on staff, although there are 327 allocated positions in total, making it short by more than 100.
“I’m hoping this will at least slow down the flow to a trickle of people who are leaving us,” Murphree said. “When you can go to somewhere and make the same or more money, and not have to work deep nights and put up with what those men and women have to put up with, it’s understandable. There’s so many opportunities out there. Not to politicize anything, but when you get paid an amount of money to not go to work, that’s an incentive for people not to go to work.”
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Denton County reaches new high in percentage of hospital beds filled by COVID-19 patients - Denton Record Chronicle
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