As many Texans remain unvaccinated and the mask mandate ban imposed by Governor Greg Abbott remains in place, the University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) expects more cases and hospitalizations by September.
According to USTW, hospital volumes rose to 99 percent in just two weeks and 327 percent in over a month. With this rate, if no changes are made to approach the pressing issue of the Delta variant, experts say they believe it could go past the peak seen last January. Hence, USTW urged that more people should get vaccinated and more mitigation efforts be undertaken.
UTSW added in its report if the behavior and response to the Delta variant continues, cases are expected to “substantially increase over the next several weeks.”
The report also said, “Critically, the current pace of hospitalization growth could put Dallas and Tarrant counties above January surge levels before September, placing increased stress on the collective capacity of regional health systems.”
The experts further predicted that the number of occupied hospital beds in Dallas County is expected to reach 1,500 by August 23 and could potentially reach 4,000 by October this year. For Tarrant County, 2,500 hospital beds could be occupied by August 23. As for the daily cases in each county, it could reach 2,000.
These predictions are based on different circumstances like no mask mandates, no social distancing, and many people unwilling to get vaccinated despite the availability of vaccines. The transmission of the Delta variant is now on a high level because of these factors.
UTSW said that if only mask mandates, limited social distancing, and restrictions on businesses are put in place, there would be a rapid decline of COVID cases soon. “Increasing compliance with prevention measures and increasing vaccination rates will help us control transmission in North Texas,” it stated.
