THE SURGE IS HERE

Baby With COVID Airlifted 150 Miles Amid Houston Hospital Bed Shortage

“We are back beyond our pre-pandemic volumes,” said one hospital administrator.

A pediatric hospital bed shortage in Houston forced an infant having seizures to be airlifted more than 150 miles for emergency treatment. The 11-month-old was taken via helicopter from Houston to Temple, Texas due to a situation hospital staff said was brought about by the Delta variant of the coronavirus. Patricia Darnauer, administrator for LBJ Hospital, told ABC 13, “She needed to be intubated immediately because she was having seizures. We looked at all five major pediatric hospital groups and none [had beds] available… We are back beyond our pre-pandemic volumes at LBJ.” The toddler received treatment at Baylor Scott & White McLane Children’s Medical Center. Dr. Christina Propst, a Houston pediatrician, said of Houston’s sick children, “If children are not masking in schools, it will be a major problem… It is typical that two weeks after school we see a great surge of strep and other sources of infection. We are bracing ourselves, not a question of when, it will be bad.”