HOUSTON — The head of Houston Methodist Hospital shared some promising news Thursday.
Dr. Marc Boom, the President and CEO OF Houston Methodist, says the number of patients admitted with COVID-19 has been dropping for about 10 days.
“We’re on a nice downward trend, and we’re very optimistic about where that goes,” said Dr. Boom.
He says the hospital peaked at 213 patients overall, with approximately 99 people in intensive care.
Thursday morning, the number of patients was down 25% from the peak. The numbers are down even more in the ICU.
Dr. Boom says other Houston hospitals are seeing the same downward trend, with the exception of Harris Health.
“I think our peak was about 10 days ago in terms of inpatients. Across the Texas Medical Center, that was not the case. It’s really only been the last few days I think we’re starting to see the numbers slowly come down across the Medical Center," Dr. Boom told KHOU 11. "As I said, that’s spotty. With Harris Health, we’re concerned about what we’re seeing there. We’re all stepping in to help them, because they are very busy right now."
Dr. Boom says Houston avoided the hospital overcrowding seen in other cities because safety measures were put in place early.
Because hospitals are within capacity across the state, Governor Greg Abbott has begun lifting restrictions.
“What’s going to be key is we ease restrictions at a very gradual, thoughtful, gated rate,” Dr. Boom said.
He says that means officials lifting restrictions a little at a time, then pausing to reassess. He believes that would help prevent a resurgence in cases.