ICU beds filling up in Texas as COVID surges. This map shows how your area is faring

Dozens of Texas cities are at more than 90% occupancy in their hospitals as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge, new data show.

Some cities are out of available beds in intensive care units, while highly populated El Paso and Amarillo have just 22 combined ICU beds for patients, according to a New York Times analysis of federal data.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Monday released COVID-19 capacity data at individual hospitals across the country according to the number of available ICU beds.

“When data are aggregated at county or state level, the average across all facilities can mask what is happening at each local hospital,” the federal agency said. “Some hospitals might have additional capacity to treat COVID-19 patients, while others lack that capacity, for example.”

In Texas, more than 99% of ICU beds are occupied in at least 14 cities, according to the analysis from The New York Times. This includes Abilene, population 123,420, whose 41 ICU beds are all taken.

Some of the major cities in Texas, including Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston, are at more than 90% capacity.

The Times’ analysis shows the seven-day average patient count by hospital service area for the week ending Dec. 3. It does not include counts from hospitals operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service, which were excluded from the DHS data.

A closer look

There are more than 9,000 people with COVID-19 currently in Texas hospitals, state data updated Wednesday show. Hospitalizations from the coronavirus in the state have mostly been on the rise since the beginning of October and are nearing the peaks seen in July.

Of the 65,287 hospital beds in the state, just 11,243 are available. Furthermore, just 675 ICU beds are available, the state said.

The cities with 100% capacity in their ICUs — Abilene, Bedford, Brownwood, Cleburne, Dumas, Gatesville, Greenville, Mexia, Pampa and Temple — have 177 beds between them. The most of those are in Temple, whose 72 ICU beds are occupied, according to the recent data.

Cities at full capacity in their ICUs are spread across the state, and some larger cities are also at risk of filling up.

Just 13 ICU beds are available out of the 400 in El Paso, which has a population of 681,000. Beaumont, Amarillo, McKinney and Laredo, four cities with a total of 386 ICU beds, have a mere 17 open.

Hospitals are nearing capacity in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. In Dallas, 648 of the 693 beds were filled, while 302 of the 330 in Fort Worth were being used. Surrounding areas such as Plano and Arlington are also at least 92% full, according to The New York Times analysis.

ICU beds are 91% full in San Antonio and Houston, the latter being the most populous city in Texas. Houston has 1,166 ICU beds in their hospitals, with just 110 open according to the most recent data.

Under normal circumstances, the nationwide average hospital bed occupancy rate in 2012 was 61%, according to Beckers Hospital Review. Health care analytic company Definitive Healthcare reported that figure at 49% in 2019 with some difference between urban and rural hospitals.

This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 3:25 PM.