AUSTIN, Texas — The Travis County Medical Society issued a call on Jan. 7 for qualified members willing to work temporarily as inpatient physicians, KVUE's Tony Plohetski confirmed.
The society, which represents 4,000 Austin doctors, said they are seeking help because of a "surge of COVID-19 patients that have stressed our inpatient medical care."
This comes as cases have spiked in Austin-Travis County.
During Austin Public Health's weekly COVID-19 update on Jan. 6, Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott issued a stark timeline about the changing ICU capacity.
GRAPHS: Coronavirus data for Jan. 6, 2021
Escott said in the meeting that the Austin area is seeing an "unprecedented surge" after the City reported 574 hospitalizations, 161 ICU beds being utilized (out of 200), and 99 ventilators in use. He reiterated in the Q&A what he told Travis County commissioners the day before: that we could see ICU bed capacity met by next week.
However, this is not the first time Escott has given an "ICU capacity ultimatum" of sorts. You can view the timeline here.
"The models are models. They are projections. It's not telling the future," Escott said. "It's telling us the future if the disease transmission stays the same as it is. I think it's a great sign that we see that date getting pushed off. Our hope is that we can avoid overwhelming surge."
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: