Topline
Doctors may need to consider the coronavirus vaccination status of North Texas patients when deciding who receives priority care. This is something that health officials want to avoid, but it's becoming more common.
Dallas doctors have been informed that Covid vaccination status can also be used to triage patients if they're overwhelmed by Covid-19-related patients. getty
The Key Facts
The North Texas Mass Critical Care Guideline Task Force met last week to discuss the increasing Covid crisis in the region. They also discussed the possibility of doctors using Covid vaccination status as a way to prioritize care in extremely difficult situations. Forbes was told by a spokesperson for the taskforce that the meeting had revealed that unvaccinated Covid patients were experiencing worse outcomes. A memo was sent to the task force members, which provides guidance to Dallas areatelling physicians on how to take vaccine status into consideration when choosing who to care for. The Dallas Morning News was the first to report the news. Forbes was told by Dr. Mark Casanova (the task force's spokesperson) that other factors, such as pre-existing conditions, would be considered in cases where patients need to be prioritized for care. Unvaccinated status will not serve as an "exclusion criteria." Casanova stated that if there are two Covid-19 patients, one would be considered more likely to survive.
Important Quote
Casanova stated in an interview that "our situation is dire" and added that if the numbers continue to rise, there is a real possibility that guidelines for triage will be needed.
Big Number
80 According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, there are 80 ICU beds in Dallas. The area has a population of approximately 8.1 million.
Important Background
Texas is seeing a rapid increase in Covid-19 hospitalizations and new Covid cases. There are no signs of slowing down. On Wednesday, Texas had 12,402 Covid-19 patients. This is a rapid increase from the January pandemic peak of just over 14,000. Texas is just one of many Southern states where Covid cases have spiked uncontrollably due to the delta variant. This has had devastating consequences for health care systems. To relieve the pressure on regular medical facilities in Mississippi, officials decided to build a new field hospital in a garage. Alabama has more patients who need intensive care than it can provide. On Wednesday afternoon officials in Mobile, Alabama, which has almost 200,000 inhabitants, decided that ambulances couldn't transport patients to the hospital because they were overloaded with Covid patients. However, it does not seem that vaccination status is being used in these areas as a triage factor.
Tangent
It was distressing for Italian doctors to use survival chances to determine who got care in the initial days of the pandemic. This was because the health care system was overwhelmed by the sheer number of patients.
Continue reading
Doctors can give a patient vaccination status if North Texas is short of ICU beds (The Dallas Morning News).
Critical Mass Zero: Mobile, Alabama Ambulances Stop Taking People to Hospitals During Covid Surge (Forbes).
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