HOUSTON — An 11-month-old girl with COVID was transferred to Central Texas from Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital in Houston Thursday because there were no appropriate pediatric beds available in the Houston area, according to Harris Health System. According to the Associated Press, the girl was having seizures.
Harris Health System spokeswoman Amanda Callaway told The Associated Press that since Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital in Houston doesn’t have inpatient pediatrics, children who come there needing hospitalization are typically transferred.
The child was airlifted and transferred to Baylor Scott & White McLane Children's Medical Center in Temple, Texas.
Officials with the Harris Health System did not know what specifically the child needed to be placed in an appropriate bed.
The status of the child was also not available.
“Hospitalizations across the Texas Medical Center are escalating at a pace we have not observed since the highest COVID-19 peak in summer 2020. Among patients hospitalized with COVID-19, a majority are younger and unvaccinated,” William F. McKeon, CEO of Texas Medical Center, said in a statement.
According to the Texas Medical Center, 336 new COVID-19 patients were admitted to its hospitals on Thursday, compared to 72 on July 7.
The rise in COVID-19 cases is being blamed on the highly contagious delta variant. Dr. David Persse estimated that 85% to 95% of COVID patients in Houston area hospitals are unvaccinated.