DENTON COUNTY (1080 KRLD) - As COVID-19 cases continue to soar in Denton County, available hospital beds are dwindling. County Health Director Dr. Matt Richardson says if people don't do their part to reduce the spread, hospitals aren't the only ones that will suffer.
"For people who have had a stroke, for people who have a heart attack, people who have some type of chronic disease that is exacerbated either by COVID-19 or by natural progression of life … there's less capacity for those people," Dr. Richardson said during today's Commissioners Court meeting.
Right now, total inpatient occupancy is at 70 percent capacity in Denton County. Adult ICU occupancy is over 93 percent capacity, which leaves only 5 ICU beds available. Dr. Richardson says more than half of the patients in the ICU have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Reported cases of the virus are up across the board, in all age groups, and health officials say they're expected to keep rising.
"We are trying desperately to encourage the public to do all they can to prevent transmission," Richardson says. "If we can lower the case load, that's going to lower the percentage … of people who are hospitalized."
