Dallas County requests physicians, hospital beds from National Guard as COVID-19 spreads
Dallas County requested 250 mobile hospital beds and support from the National Guard to try and prevent hospitals from being overrun as coronavirus cases increase in North Texas.
County Judge Clay Jenkins said he submitted a State of Texas Assistance Request (STAR), which allows a city or municipality to request state and federal aid.
He asked for National Guard nurses and doctors and more 250 mobile hospital beds, explaining that the region does not have enough beds to take care of the number of people estimated to contract coronavirus.
“I want you to understand they are not coming here to impose martial law, they are here on a medical mission,” Jenkins said Thursday at his daily 6 p.m. news conference.
Hospitals across the country are preparing for, or already struggling with, a lack of hospital beds for virus patients.
Jenkins also urged the Dallas-Fort Worth region to work together to fight the spread of coronavirus.
He said that 10 county judges and medical professionals participated in a conference call Thursday morning, and Collin County’s judge, Chris Hill, was the only one who did not attend the call. He said he did not know if Hill had scheduling conflicts or not.
Hill said in a statement that he participated in two conference calls on Thursday with county judges and leaders in North Texas and one Wednesday with county judges from urban counties across the state.
“Unfortunately, Judge Jenkins was not able to join us for any of those calls,” Hill said in the statement. “I assume that he was busy working hard to protect the people of Dallas County, just as I was working hard to protect the the people of Collin County all day today.”
Jenkins said those on the 10-county call, which included Tarrant County, discussed a unified shelter-at-home order in the region, which he said will help flatten the curve in the battle against COVID-19.
“I very much want them to join me, and to join all of us,” Jenkins said of Collin County. “Every county in North Texas is working on this together, so I guess if I had to ask, it would be for them to reconsider and send your lawyer to our team to work on that unified order with us.”
As of Thursday, Texas reported 1,396 cases and 18 deaths from the virus.
Collin County issued a county-wide stay-in-place order Tuesday, but the measure quickly drew backlash as people said it did not go far enough. The order allows Collin County businesses to stay open as long as they follow social distancing rules like the 6-foot rule and the 10 people max rule.
As of Thursday, Collin County reported 66 confirmed coronavirus cases.
Jenkins urged people to “have some grace” for Collin County commissioners, and said he understands measures such as shelter-in-place deeply hurt local businesses and economy.
“We’re in a situation where we need to act together quickly,” he said.
Jenkins also said it was “beyond ridiculous” that Dallas County’s testing centers were running out of tests, and said Dallas County’s “federal partners” need to act faster.
At 6 p.m., the Dallas County Emergency Management said the county’s two testing sites were out of tests and would resume at 8 a.m. Friday.
“We need our partners to move faster. We need those in our region who have not moved with the scientific facts to act,” Jenkins said. “I’m getting more blunt with people, because each day brings us closer to the day that we run out of hospital beds.”
Two more inmates at Dallas County jail tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total infected inmates to seven, said Dallas County Health and Human Services Department Director Philip Huang at the press conference. Three more inmates have symptoms, four were in quarantine and two jail officers were also in quarantine.
Huang said they expect more people in that particular pod to test positive for the virus.
This story was originally published March 26, 2020 at 7:54 PM.
