WATCH: Were COVID-19 Hospitalization Predictions in San Angelo Accurate?

SAN ANGELO, TX – The day before Halloween the San Angelo local health authority, Dr. James Vretis, went out on a limb and made predictions regarding what San Angelo's hospitalizations will look like on Nov. 8.

According to the Dr. Vretis, on Oct. 30, the probability that San Angelo will exceed hospital capacity on Nov. 8 was at 29 percent. On that day the projected hospital beds occupied were 119 with a range from 21 to 750.

On Sunday there were not 119 patients in the hospital. Instead there were only 55.

The DSHS reported Sunday that there were still 23 beds left in the ICU. Dr. Vretis said there was a 45 percent chance our ICU would fill completely up and need to started shipping patients elsewhere.

"Be aware we don't have 114 ICU beds," said Dr. Vretis. "What will we do? We'll do the best that we can."

Dr. Vretis is certain that if we run out of beds then we will start ship patients out to bigger cities that can handle them. Big cities in Texas with room for outside COVID-19 patients are getting hard and harder to find daily.

Cities like El Paso, Lubbock, Midland, and Amarillo are all suffering huge COVID-19 hospitalization spikes.

San Angelo has seen an increase in the amount of positive cases by setting the record for new positive cases Friday followed by large numbers on Saturday and Sunday.

Although the positivity rate in San Angelo continues to rise it seems that the hospitalization rate is remaining steady.

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With open bars and restaurants you cannot prevent to fill the icu beds. You have to ask governor for more strict measurements of wearing masks everywhere, grocery shopping different times for customers above 50 years old and below 50s. Bars to be closed, restaurants to stay on delivery and take out. Look what is happening in Europe with the lock downs ( France, England, Germany, Italy, Greece)!

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A virus so deadly most get sent home to recover, so deadly you don’t know you have it, or had it, unless you get tested. If masks worked, why the rise in cases? If so deadly, with rise in cases, where is the corresponding rise in deaths? Why has the CDC really stopped collecting/reporting data on the 2020-21 influenza season? Public health “official” - quit giving these fear mongers air time.

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San Angelo Live totally missed the point of Dr. Vretis' projections; you also missed some of the math. Nevertheless, this is not a time to cast doubts or aspersions on Public Health Medical specialists. It's just another way to put down and diminish medical information on the coronavirus disease. I have hung in there with this so-called news outlet for a while now, but you've lost me on this story. The coronavirus disease is awful enough and often lethal without anyone developing any doubts on the information that we are receiving. You didn't spare one line to consider how it was that the projections did not manifest themselves, could you have given Public Health and the San Angelo public some credit for jumping into action to bring down hospitalizations? So done with San Angelo Live!

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