Last week, just as some of North Texas’ front-line healthcare workers got their first dose of relief via Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, their jobs got increasingly taxing. The number of hospital beds they’re tending are either filled to capacity or precariously close to it.
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New York Times tracking tool shows that ICU beds at City Hospital White Rock, Baylor University Medical Center, Methodist in Mansfield and Medical City Las Colinas are at 100% capacity. Methodist and Baylor in Iriving have one bed, Parkland and UT Southwestern have two beds each.
Children’s hospitals in both Dallas and Fort Worth are not at capacity.
Published December 19, 2020 •
Updated on December 20, 2020 at 12:55 pm
Lola Gomez/The Dallas Morning News
Two passengers were injured when one DART train hit another Saturday afternoon in downtown Dallas, officials say.
At 1:15 p.m., a northbound Orange Line train had come partially off the tracks before it made contact with a southbound Red Line train that was providing service at the St. Paul Station, Dallas Area Rapid Transit spokesman Gordon Shattles said.
Two people on one of the trains were taken to Baylor University Medical Center with minor injuries, he said.
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coronavirus Mar 20, 2020
Two injured in DART derailment in downtown Dallas
According to a spokesman, a northbound Orange line train made contact with a southbound Green line train about 1:15 p.m. at the St. Paul Station.
Two DART trains collided Saturday afternoon, Dec. 19, in downtown Dallas, sending two passengers to the hospital with minor injuries.(Lola Gomez / Staff Photographer)
Two passengers were treated for minor injuries after a DART train derailed Saturday afternoon in downtown Dallas.
The northbound Orange line train made contact with a southbound Green line train about 1:15 p.m. at the St. Paul Station, according to a DART spokesman.
The trains collided at St. Paul and Bryan streets. The two injured passengers were taken to Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, the spokesman said.
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.