Critical hospital situation in Texas due to storms 27:14
. – While most Texans had a lot to fear with last week’s freezing storm that resulted in power outages and water problems, some, like Tania Delacruz, had an additional problem: Covid-19.
For Delacruz, it started with body aches before the storm. Then, on the coldest night in South Texas, his oxygen levels dropped as his temperature rose.
“It was pretty bad, because even if you try to cover yourself with all the blankets you can find, it was still cold,” he told CNN from his bed at United Memorial Medical Center (UMMC) in Houston, where he arrived last. week.
And the colder it was, the more severe the coughing fits, he said.
Cornelio López was recovering from covid-19 at home, on oxygen, when the power went out and the oxygen machine batteries ran out.
Without oxygen, it just goes to the ground, López, from Oaxaca, Mexico, told CNN in Spanish. Now he is recovering at UMMC.
Sandra Aguirre’s family sought warmth in a hotel, while she, sick with covid-19, was hospitalized.
Three other family members also have Covid-19.
“I was here and all I could do was worry about my children,” she says.
Last week’s winter storm hit the entire state of Texas, killing at least 29 statewide and millions without power in the freezing cold for days.
As the UMMC recently sees fewer patients with covid-19 as cases decline across the country, healthcare providers express concern that cases will resume soon after people have met and in shelters to warm up last week.
“A lot of people came together,” said Dr Joseph Varon, UMMC’s medical director. “They didn’t care about the covid.”
“We had a lot of shelters open to keep people warm, and you know a shelter is a giant petri dish,” Varon said, “so hopefully in the next few days we have a slight increase. the number of cases. “.
People were also rushing to hardware stores and supermarkets before the storm, and all social distancing rules were forgotten, he said.
UMMC was one of many hospitals in Texas that were without power and then water last week.
“The storm was absolutely devastating. It was chaotic to say the least, ”said Varon. When they ran out of water, “we thought we were going to get help from other hospitals, but they were in exactly the same situation as us.”
The hospital could not use its operating room and some nurses were there for four and five days in a row, he said.
Five members of the Board of Directors of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), including the president and vice-president, resigned Tuesday, acknowledging “the pain and suffering of Texans” during the power cuts.
ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness said on Wednesday the storm not only increased demand statewide but also affected all types of power generation.
“It affected the system on all levels because of the intensity and length of time that we saw,” said Magness.
CNN’s Rosalina Nieves contributed to this report.
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