x
Breaking News
More () »

Hospitals preparing for another surge in COVID cases

After weeks with small numbers of COVID-19 cases, hospitals are seeing more people coming down with the virus.

ODESSA, Texas — COVID-19 cases are back on the rise, not just here in Midland and Odessa, but across the state overall. While the jump isn’t that big in the Basin right now, health officials are concerned that a surge could be here soon.

The hospitals in Midland and Odessa have reported more cases now than they have been seeing over the last several weeks, and it’s been a mix of people who have been vaccinated and unvaccinated. However, the hospitals feel a little more prepared for another potential surge this go around.

A year and a half of COVID-19 leading to a year and a half of struggle, but hospitals are hoping that won’t be the case any more.

"I feel a little bit better about keeping our patients and our staff members safe this time so we have that going for us. This time it’s not really the unknown. This time we’ve gone through it. I know that we have the delta variant, and we didn’t have that before," Amanda Everett, MCH's Emergency Management Coordinator, said.

However, it could still be a tough fall season with RSV and flu cases already starting to pop up.

"You take what we’ve got currently with COVID-19 and then you know we’re going to see the RSV cases this year. We’re going to see the flu cases this year, and that just creates kind of a disaster," Brandi McDonald, MMH's Director of Clinical Operations and Critical Care Services, said.

However, doctors are still hoping that potential surges won't be as bad as one's we've seen before.

"It will get here. I just hope it’s not as sharp a rise as we’ve seen in July and October. July and October the surge was so great that it was pressing the healthcare systems ability to keep up. I hope we don’t get to that point again," Rohith Saravanan, ORMC's Chief Medical Officer said.

All three of these doctors saying that the vaccine is your best protection against COVID and potentially another surge.

"What we do know is that the vaccination it does prevent you from getting an infection, and even if you do get an infection, it definitely prevents you from getting very sick with that infection. So that part we know very well, and we want to be sure that we get most of our people vaccinated," Saravanan said.

Before You Leave, Check This Out