HOUSTON — Harris County Public Health (HCPH) said Monday that 208 out-of-town hospital workers are assigned to begin working within 48 hours.
These workers are part of 664 positions county commissioners approved funding for the prior week to help hospitals dealing with infections and pandemic-related burnout.
“They will be deployed to all of our hospitals across our region, from our public hospital system to hospitals (including) Methodist, Memorial Hermann, HCA, you name it,” said Judge Lina Hidalgo on January 11. “They are all seeing staff shortages.”
A HCPH spokesperson told KHOU on Monday that seven Harris County hospital systems will receive workers as follows:
- Memorial Hermann – 178
- HCA Houston Healthcare – 157
- Harris Health – 115
- Houston Methodist – 99
- St Luke’s – 60
- Texas Children’s Hospital – 30
- St Joseph’s – 19
The HCPH spokesperson says they reduced the positions from 664 to 658 because “one facility did not want additional (hospital workers).”
New numbers released Monday from the Texas Medical Center (TMC) show the average percentage of tests coming back positive was 24.9% during the week of January 10, down from 29.2% the prior week.
During that same time period, TMC averaged 13,395 new daily reported cases, down slightly from 13,555 per day the prior week.
TMC admitted 413 new COVID-19 patients to the hospital each day on average that week, compared to 497 per day the previous week.
HCPH is also trying to keep people out of the hospital from COVID by holding vaccination events.
On Monday, they partnered with Holocaust Museum Houston to give free first, second, and booster doses at the museum, which offered recipients free access to exhibits.
“We’ve done this at least five or six times now, and every time there’s a really nice turnout,” said Robin Cavanaugh, Chief Marketing Officer with Holocaust Museum Houston. “It’s just a way for us to be helpful in the community and do our part. I think that’s important because Martin Luther King, he was all about community and all about service, so this is the perfect day to participate in not only vaccinating for yourself, but for your community.”