Houston hospitals stop reporting COVID-19-related data after reaching base ICU capacity: report

[TomCADem]

Source: The Hill

Data released by a major Houston hospital system no longer includes information about the hospital system's ICU capacity, a change reportedly made just a day after it previously was updated to show the hospitals reaching 100 percent base capacity due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Charts updated daily by the Texas Medical Center, a hospital system with locations in downtown Houston, contained a warning as of Sunday that an "upward trajectory of new daily cases" was continuing, and indicated that the surge in patients to the ICU "supports future ICU resource planning." However, no indications of when the hospital system would reach capacity were available.

"Currently TMC institutions are able to serve all patients requiring intensive care," the documents read, alongside a note indicating a 5-percent average growth of coronavirus patients requiring admittance to the ICU. No other information on when the TMC would reach ICU capacity was publicly available.

The Houston Chronicle reported that the data was altered to exclude this information after Saturday's update indicated that Houston ICUs would reach "unsustainable surge capacity" by July 6. The Chronicle also reported that the change occurred after a conversation "between Gov. Greg Abbott [R] and hospital executives in which the governor expressed displeasure with negative headlines about ICU capacity."


Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/houston-hospitals-stop-reporting-covid-19-related-data-after-reaching-base-icu-capacity-report/ar-BB1656hh?li=BBnb7Kz

[live love laugh]

1. Fuck Greg Abbott. nt

[Dustlawyer]

7. +1!!! Ditto

[C_U_L8R]

2. TV crews won't miss the people in respiratory distress, dying on the sidewalk

The rightwing shitstains think they can sweep their fuckups out of view.

[highplainsdem]

3. Abbott's already limited press coverage of his own briefings, Now he's limiting data hospitals can

provide.

Bastard.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213634870

[dem4evah]

4. DeSantis in Florida has tried the same crap...

and it's IMPLODING in his face. Abbott won't get away with it IMO. I posted this in another thread, but Abbott is literally Fredo:

[BigmanPigman]

9. Georgia lied about Covid cases along with FL.

Gee, what a surprise.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/20/us/florida-georgia-covid-19-test-data/index.html

[orleans]

5. yeah, always a good idea to conceal information from the public

especially when pertaining to health matters regarding pandemics

you know, it gives people more of a sense of hope when they are unaware of the bleak, sad, horrible truth. it will probably be a good idea not to have news crews showing those refrigeration trucks if and when that need arises

(yee haw!)

[SunSeeker]

6. In keeping with the whole "if you don't test you won't have cases" Trumpian head in sand delusion.

Texas is in deep shit.

[dem4evah]

8. That they are....

but so is Florida and California...etc...That's 3 of the bigger states in the country in Texas/Cali/Florida all in different parts of the country. So the bottom line is this country is in deep shit. As much as Trumpler has tried to fracture and divide us, at the end of the day, for better or worse (yeah, this IS worse) we are attached at the hip like it or not. I'd literally give a LIMB for tomorrow to be November 3rd. Feels like shit is unraveling so fast and we are FOUR months away. It's like every day is super slo mo. Just absolutely excruciating.

[SunSeeker]

12. Newsom does not pretend it's not happening like Abbott does.

Unfortunately for me, I live in Orange County, California, a relatively red area of California, and the Republican dipshits here won't wear masks, and the local Republican Sheriff here gloats about how he won't enforce mask mandates. It is so fucking frustrating. Our only chance to stem the virus and delusional Republicans won't do the simplest thing to save us.

[C Moon]

10. The red states were supposed to be successful against COVID, while the blue states over-reacted...

that was the GOP's master plan for the November election.
I believe the GOP thought the summer heat would kill COVID-19.
It didn't. It won't. And once again, the GOP is falling flat on their lying, cheating, hate-filled faces.

[Aussie105]

11. By the time the serious voting starts

the country will be in the full grip of wave 2.

Hospitals will put up signs that say:

'Go home! Full up! No room here!'

[SunSeeker]

15. No doubt. And then when schools start up in late August/early September, it'll go really nuts.

I'm dreading it.

[Kablooie]

13. The red states decided to let Trump think for them.

So they believe whatever he says and emulate his style which is to block as much true information as possible.

Hard to believe that anyone could be so utterly stupid but they are.

[Aussie105]

14. Stupid?

Nah!

They just grew up believing that being obtuse and belligerently defiant was the accepted American Way of Life.
(Then along came Trump, who legitimized all that.)

But slow learners? Definitely!

[greyl]

16. Texas case curve is still bending toward vertical, now 4th highest nationwide.

Isolate Texas data in the leftside "Cases by County" column here: https://infection2020.com/

[intrepidity]

17. Rachel Maddie was talking about Texas ICU #s on Friday

Guess it left a mark

[beachbumbob]

18. Abbott taking a play from Florida and Gov DeSantis, its all about hiding the truth now

[Maxheader]

19. Accurate data is critical..

They use it to allot resources..

Its been shown to work in other countries. People keep screwing around, the authorities will

start micro chipping everyone...at the end of a barrel, if necessary...no shit...

Keep track of ya.....

[Igel]

21. They have it.

We don't.

We're not allocating resources. They are.


On Friday the TMC website had ICU bed capacity noted. It was almost at 100% when I looked at it, and the news was we were near 100%. Fair enough. That was baseline capacity. We weren't at 50% for overall capacity. Overall included 3 categories--baseline, beds that are always there; emergency, beds that could be set up (and have been already) which are able to stay in use for weeks if not months; and surge, not sustainable, which are beds that could be set up but wouldn't be able to stay for all that long (with no details as to how long they could remain).

COVID cases accounted for something like 27% of the ICU beds then occupied.

But the news was that because of COVID, the ICU beds were almost at 100% capacity.

Strictly speaking, it's true. Strictly speaking, it was also false. What was left out skewed the understanding of what was said so much that the truth was as good as a lie. Thing is, the partial truth was gleaned from the screen that contained the whole truth. "All the news that's fit to print" isn't anything close to "all the actually relevant news".

[Javaman]

20. in other news asshole abbott claimes...

"well, you can't actually have 110% right? So reporting more that 100% full would be pointless...right? RIGHT?"

while this is satire, sadly, it's entirely possible for asshole abbott to actually say something this fucking stupid.

[Igel]

22. Given the way the news was reporting it,

you could actually talk about the number of ICU beds in reserve when at 180% capacity.

That should tell you that there was something left out of the news.