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The largest medical facility in the world reported 100 percent occupancy of its ICU beds Tuesday as the novel coronavirus continues to spread throughout the globe.
The Texas Medical Center in Houston, which encompasses over two miles of medical and research facilities, reported 271 COVID-19 positive patients currently occupying ICU beds, an additional 1,334 beds are being used by patients with other illnesses.
The Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas reported that ICU beds were at 100 percent capacity, as the novel coronavirus continues to spread throughout the U.S.
Among the patients in ICU beds, 20 percent are COVID-19 positive patients.
As of Monday, there were 114 new COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital, a daily growth rate of 2.2 percent when averaged over seven days. This is an increase from the previous week, as the Texas Medical Center reported 88 hospitalizations from August 24 to August 30.
The number of new hospitalizations reported on Monday was close to the number of daily patients admitted to the Texas Medical Center last month, when there were 165 new COVID-19 hospitalizations per day.
While the medical center's ICU is currently at capacity, they reported a decline in the number of new daily cases. According to the data, there were 1,116 new confirmed cases of the novel virus in the greater Houston area on Sunday, a decrease from the previous week where the medical center reported around 1,415 new cases per day.
Additionally, the Texas Medical Center's testing positivity rate was down from last month, as the current seven-day average was 5.8 percent, compared to last month, where the testing positivity rate was 10.6 percent.
Across Texas, the number of daily new cases has continued to decrease, but the state's department of health reported 4,116 new cases on Monday. The state now has at least 617,333 confirmed cases of the novel virus, and at least 12,681 deaths.
According to the Texas Department of Health, there are currently 4,144 confirmed COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals, which is a significant decline from July, when the state had over 10,000 patients hospitalized.
According to the state's department of health, there are currently over 12,000 available hospital beds and at least 1,328 available ICU beds.
As hospitalizations have declined across Texas, Governor Greg Abbott recently suggested that the next steps for the state's expanded reopening could come in the next week.
"I said last month that Texas wouldn't have any more lockdowns despite demands from mayors and county judges insisting on lockdowns. Since my last orders in July, COVID numbers have declined, most importantly hospitalizations. I hope to provide updates next week about the next steps," Abbott wrote in a tweet on Monday.
Newsweek reached out to the Texas Medical Center for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
About the writer
Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more