Dallas official: No pediatric ICU beds available
A construction crew works to set up tents that hospital officials plan to use with an overflow of COVID-19 patients outside of Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, Monday, Aug. 9, 2021, in Houston. (Godofredo A. Vásquez/Houston Chronicle via AP)
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DALLAS — A top county official says there are no available pediatric intensive care beds in the Dallas area, with hospitals overwhelmed by a surge in coronavirus cases.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins says ICU beds for children are at capacity in the 19-county area in and around Dallas.
If a parent is seeking care for a sick or injured child, Jenkins says: “Your child will wait for another child to die. Your child will just not get on a ventilator. Your child will be care-flighted to Temple or Oklahoma City or wherever we can find them a bed, but they won’t be getting one here unless one clears.”
This week, Jenkins signed an executive order requiring masks be worn inside schools, county buildings and businesses after a judge granted a temporary restraining order against Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order banning such mandates.
