Despite critics, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins remains steadfast on COVID response
After a legacy-defining year, the county’s top elected official reflects on his leadership amid the coronavirus pandemic and racial justice.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins poses at his office after a news conference about the coronavirus pandemic on Dec. 18, 2020. His year was dominated by fighting COVID-19 and responding to calls for criminal justice reform.(Lola Gomez / Staff Photographer)
When Dallas County commissioners met downtown recently, John Wiley Price and J.J. Koch snickered out loud. It was 9 a.m., the start of their Tuesday semimonthly meeting, and County Judge Clay Jenkins was late.
As Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine slowly trickles into hospitals, the Thanksgiving wave of cases is settling into ICU units. Tuesday morning, the director of Dallas County Health and Human Services, Dr. Philip Huang, reported there are just 29 ICU beds available in all of Dallas County.
Steve Love, president and CEO of the DFW Hospital Council, told the Dallas County Commissioners Court approximately 40% of local ICU beds are occupied by COVID-19 patients. He also said most of the experts and epidemiologists he’s talked to agree that we’re seeing the impact from Thanksgiving travel and gatherings.
According to data examined by NPR, Parkland Hospital is at 98% capacity and 15% of those are COVID-19 patients. Methodist Medical Center in Dallas is at 99% capacity and 30% are COVID-19 patients. Baylor University Medical Center is at 96% capacity and 25% are COVID-19 patients.