SAN ANGELO, TX – The Trauma Service Area including the City of San Angelo, TSA K, dropped below the 15% Covid hospitalization rate that would have triggered closures and restrictions Thursday just two days before those new restrictions would've kicked in after local health authorities increased the number of hospital beds available for Covid patients by 50.
San Angelo Mayor Brenda Gunter spent the better part of an hour long news conference Thursday afternoon reiterating that neither the mayor nor Tom Green County Judge Steve Floyd had ever shut down any business because of the pandemic and they didn't have the authority to do so.
The area had exceeded the 15% threshold for five days and was just two days from the Governor's executive order mandated the closing of bars and restricting capacity in restaurants.
See the DSHS graph below which shows 683 staffed Covid beds in the area:
DSHS Chart for TSA K Dec. 2020 (Contributed/DSHS)
The above graph shows that by Thursday, the number of staffed hospital beds rose from 613 to 683 just in time to avert the restrictions mandated by the governor's executive order.
Local officials had trusted and used the DSHS numbers until this week when the TSA was facing mandatory restrictions. Hospitalizations have not decreased, local reporting authorities reported more hospital beds available.
Mayor Gunter issued a statement Tuesday about a headline that stirred rumors. In that statement, Gunter didn't mention the DSHS hospital bed discrepancy.
The governor's executive order states that any TSA that has a hospitalization rate over 15% for seven consecutive days triggers restrictions on certain businesses.
TSA-K has now fallen below that mark and the seven day clock will begin when and if the area exceeds 15% hospitalizations again.
We will have more on this story as that information becomes available.
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Comments
Our numbers of positive cases and those hospitalized continues to grow and we were at the point of having to make changes that would force people to do what they should already be doing but at the 11th hour someone "found" 70 more beds that miraculously dropped the number below the threshold that required government action.
Wonderful news! Now all of the people can continue to not wear masks and ignore social distancing and go ahead and send out the invites for the huge holiday parties. Maybe by the time our numbers mirror those of El Paso someone will find and entirely new hospital that can be used to keep our numbers below those that require action.
WAY TO GO!!! People can continue in their ignorant ways! No need to actually address the issue when we have more beds. Did they find the additional doctors and nurses to staff those beds too because medical staff around the world are working themselves to death already. San Angelo is no different. We're going to need those 70 beds when the actual numbers hit for those who became infected during the Thanksgiving break.
UNBELIEVABLE!
Schools have been designated to be the safest place for kids now too. Who is the idiot that came to that conclusion? 20 to 30 kids packed in a room with several refusing to wear a mask (not to mention some of the teachers) and it's safer than staying home and doing virtual classes? If that's the case then why did so many students miss prom and graduation last year? Why did we skip the State mandated testing? Why are we having virtual Friday's for the high schools so the limited number of substitutes can focus on elementary students? If my kids are safer in school then why make them stay home on Friday?
I bet from an aerial view we all look like a bunch of sheep blindly walking to the edge of the cliff. The people that are supposed to watch over us and help keep us safe are just grinning from ear to ear.
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