Texas Activates Overwhelming Resources to Confront Coronavirus Outbreaks

Coronavirus outbreaks are being confirmed throughout the state of Texas, but incremental medical resources are being sent to areas in the southwest and Mexico border.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced the state has deployed additional medical resources to the cities of El Paso and Lubbock to help manage COVID-19 outbreaks in these communities.

According to the City of Lubbock’s COVID dashboard and El Paso’s dashboard, both cities are reporting additional coronavirus infections, and several COVID-19 fatalities each day.

The vast majority of COVID-19 fatalities are related to seniors with existing comorbidities, but very few pediatric deaths have been confirmed.

To confront the coronavirus outbreak in Lubbock, a city with 260,000 residents, the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM), and the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) have deployed two Auxiliary Medical Units (AMU) to Lubbock to assist with onsite surge capacity for local hospitals. 

The State also continues to operate three testing sites in Lubbock.

The State has also surged additional medical personnel to the Panhandle and South Plains areas to assist local hospitals. TDEM continues to provide the Panhandle and South Plains with over 7.4 million masks, 3.9 million gloves, over 1 million gowns, and coveralls and over 240,000 face shields.

There is currently 716 personnel in the region with more being deployed as needed. 

"The State of Texas is ensuring that our communities hit the hardest by COVID-19 have the resources and support they need to keep people safe and bring hospitalization rates back down," said Governor Abbott, in a press statement issued on November 11, 2020.

TDEM and DSHS have deployed over 1,350 medical personnel to the El Paso region with more being deployed as needed. The Alternate Care Site in El Paso, established in late October, is increasing capacity from 65 beds to 100 beds by Friday. 

DSHS has also deployed six AMUs to assist area hospitals with surge capacity. TDEM continues to provide the El Paso community with over 9.1 million masks, over 3 million gloves, over 964,000 gowns, and coveralls, and over 245,000 face shields. 

The State is currently operating 8 testing sites across El Paso County.

Last week, Governor Abbott announced that three U.S. Air Force Medical Specialty Teams have been deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense to assist area hospitals.

From a diagnostic perspective, the state of Texas has reported about 1 million coronavirus test results to the U.S. CDC, as of November 11, 2020.

People can get tested for COVID‑19 at public testing sites and drive‑thru locations in certain parts of Texas. To meet consumer demand, Texas has launched hundreds of testing sites, which can be easily located on this map. 

PrecisionVaccinations publishes research-based news.