6:04 p.m. ET, July 11, 2020
Texas Medical Center says ICU occupancy on pace to reach Phase 3 by July 23
From CNN's Kay Jones
Houston-based Texas Medical Center said on Saturday that its ICU occupancy could reach Phase 3 levels by July 23, based on their current growth rate across the system's intensive care units.
Within the Texas Medical Center system, Phase 1 is the current ICU configuration under non-pandemic conditions, Phase 2 adds an additional 1,703 ICU beds and Phase 3 plans temporary ICU surge capacity through an additional 2,207 beds.
Currently, TMC are 24% into their Phase 2 plans for intensive care, according to the latest information posted on its website, with 1,420 total ICU beds occupied throughout the system.
The hospitals in the TMC system have 2,331 positive Covid-19 patients, with 651 of those in ICU as of Friday, according to the latest data published. TMC says that between July 4 and 10, they saw a 3% growth of ICU Covid-19 patients.
The Houston area has averaged 1,360 new cases per day, three times higher than peak in April, with a 11.3% positivity rate over the past week, TMC said.