The Austin (Texas) Convention Center will likely be converted to a field hospital as local health officials predict intensive care units will soon reach capacity due to a surge in COVID-19 patients, the Austin American Statesman reported Jan. 6.
Mark Escott, MD, interim Austin-Travis County health authority, said ICUs could reach capacity by Jan. 15, adding that the process of converting the convention center could begin later this week or early next week.
"It seems very clear to us that we are going to run out of hospital beds and that we are going to have to stretch resources to meet the needs of the community," he said during a local press briefing, according to the report.
In July, the facility was staged as a field hospital for up to 1,500 COVID-19 patients, though it's unknown how many patients it would be set up for this time.
As of Jan. 6, 13,628 patients in Texas were hospitalized with COVID-19 — a record high for the state, according to The Atlantic's COVID-19 Tracking Project.