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Hospitals in the Houston area and across the state of Texas are facing a shortage of beds as the delta variant of COVID-19 rapidly spreads across the region.
KHOU News reported that as of Aug. 10, there are only 27 ICU beds available for 6.6 million people in the region while there are only 329 vacant in the state.
Along with a shortage of beds, hospitals are also reporting a shortage of sufficient staff to handle incoming patients.
"The #DeltaVariant is spreading rapidly in the Houston community and straining our health system," U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Houston) wrote in an Aug. 10 Twitter post. "If you’re unvaccinated, the best thing you could do today to stay safe is go and get your #vaccine. We have the tools to solve this problem."
The number of 27 available beds is an all time low since last July when there were only 40 ICU beds available during the height of the 2020 pandemic.
As of Monday, Aug. 9, northeast Houston's LBJ Hospital reported that its ICU was at 100% capacity, 63% of those beds taken by COVID patients.
A Kingwood family told the station that they had to wait for an ICU bed to become available for its COVID-stricken father of four, according to ABC 13 News.
"The past couple of days, we heard that he got a bed and we got excited, and it didn't happen for whatever reason," Tracy Cotto, the patient's wife, told ABC 13 News. "So when I see the helicopter leaving [Tuesday] is when I'll start celebrating and know that at least he's going to have a chance to beat this."
Tracy said that as of Tuesday afternoon, her husband Tim Cotto has been transferred to the ICU at Memorial Hermann Hospital and remains on a ventilator.
"I want him back more than anything in the world because he's my ride or die," Tracy told ABC 13 News. "He's my person that I need in my life, and I can't function without him so hopefully this getting him into another hospital will help us and save his life."