Respirators are in big demand for COVID-19 patients in hospital intensive care units. Currently in Nueces County, 285 people are in the hospital, 44 of them in ICU, which means “they are in peril,” said Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales.
Eight people died of COVID-19 in an eight-hour period Tuesday, July 7, in Nueces County, announced Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni during a joint city/county briefing in City Hall the same day. That brings the total number of deaths to 27. The city also saw a record number of cases with 388 reported that day — a 7 percent increase from last week’s all-time high of 362.
Some good news did break through those bleak numbers. Requests to the state for more testing materials are being fulfilled, which the city hopes will include a new request for 20 nurses to help with the increase in hospitalizations.
“Our hospitals are extremely inundated,” Zanoni said. “Last week, we asked for 30 nurses and that was fulfilled. We need more. A COVID patient needs more care.”
The city is working to test a waiting list of 3,000 people with diminishing supplies. The new materials should last another two weeks, testing 200-300 people a day, three days a week.
Zanoni also pointed out other entities that are testing all week, including the National Guard, community clinics, and private medical facilities. (Click here for a story with the contact information.)
City/County Health Director Annette Rodriguez focused part of her remarks on the alarming number of pharmacists contracting the disease.
“Don’t send sick people to the pharmacy to pick up their own prescriptions,” Rodriguez said. “Send a healthy person.”
She also focused on the need to protect the most vulnerable in the population, including anyone 65 or older, those with serious weight issues, and other medical considerations.
“This is a horrific virus that is in our community,” she said. “We make and take risks every day. Are there any risks worth taking that are more important than protecting our loved ones?”
That message was driven home by Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales, who added an impassioned plea in Spanish to further emphasize the importance of postponing big family gatherings.
“When we hit an all-time high of 388 cases and eight deaths, you are going to have to question for yourself whether it’s a good idea to gather,” she said. “You are going to have to say, there’s something wrong in the community; our hospitals are at capacity. All that hard work we did on July 4, you won’t see for awhile. We are still living off the sins of our past.”
She called for Nueces County residents to “raise the bar on our behavior,” which means wearing masks, sending only one healthy person to run errands, wash hands, and postpone gatherings.”
“We are at a critical stage right now,” she said. “It’s important that we ask you all to assist us at this time. We must do everything we can to reduce the transmission and work together to change our ways, to limit our gatherings.”
To follow the latest news on COVID-19 in Corpus Christi, check the Corpus Christi Business News' COVID-19 Resource Page.
