COVID-19

COVID-19

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For five days, after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the nine county region of the Crossroads achieved the milestone of having zero COVID-19 patients in intensive care units.

As of Monday that streak ended, but local health officials are still vigilant and are cautiously optimistic going forward in the pandemic as demands on healthcare system infrastructure becomes less of a concern.

Having zero COVID-19 patients in ICUs is encouraging news as it means that there are fewer people getting critically ill from COVID-19 and having to go to into the ICUs, said David Gonzales, 足交视频 County Public Health director. On top of that, it means that the health care infrastructure of the region isn鈥檛 being taxed like it was early in the pandemic.

Previous surges in the pandemic had put the Crossroads health care infrastructure in a critical state as it tested the capacity for care, Gonzales said.

鈥淲hen hospitals get full it becomes a concern,鈥 he said.

As of Monday, 1.49% of the Crossroads regional hospital capacity are hospitalized COVID-19 patients, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services COVID-19 database.

Citizens Medical Center, which hasn鈥檛 had a patient in its ICU in two weeks, is happy to get to this point in the pandemic.

鈥淲e are pleased with the progress our community has made in regard to the pandemic,鈥 said Dr. Daniel Cano, Citizens chief medical officer. 鈥淥ur staff and patient areas remain prepared for any future variation of the virus.鈥

DeTar Healthcare System is cautiously optimistic about the downward trend in cases in the community and is encouraging people to continue supporting efforts against the pandemic by getting vaccinated and boosted as recommended, said Judith Barefield, DeTar Healthcare System spokesperson.

It is unclear if the pandemic will continue or cases will flatten out in the region, but having the space, along with access to treatments, infusions and vaccines will be helpful going forward, Gonzales said.

鈥淚 hope (zero ICU COVID-19 patients) is a sign for the long term,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to see an uptick in cases at some point, we just don鈥檛 know when as this becomes seasonal, but if we can keep capacity open it will go a long way.鈥

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Kyle Cotton was born and raised in San Antonio and graduated from San Antonio College and the University of Texas at Arlington. Cotton has covered economic development, health care, finance, government, technology, oil and gas and higher education.