HOUSTON, Texas – An 11-month-old girl with COVID-19 who was having seizures was transported Thursday from a Houston hospital to a hospital 170 miles away in Temple, the Associated Press reported.
Harris Health System spokeswoman Amanda Callaway told the Associated Press that the Houston hospital where the young child was initially admitted, Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, doesn’t offer inpatient pediatric care. Children who come there needing hospitalization are typically transferred.
None of the major pediatric hospitals in the Houston area had beds available, Callaway said.
In a video released by the Harris Health System, the child is seen being lifted into a Life Flight helicopter Thursday ahead of the flight to Temple.
William F. McKeon, CEO of Texas Medical Center, said hospitalizations at the medical complex are “up over 400% in the past month.”
“Hospitalizations across the Texas Medical Center are escalating at a pace we have not observed since the highest COVID-19 peak in summer 2020. Among patients hospitalized with COVID-19, a majority are younger and unvaccinated,” McKeon said in a statement.
On Thursday, 336 new new COVID-19 patients were admitted to hospitals at the Texas Medical Center. For reference, just 72 new COVID-19 patients were admitted to TMC hospitals July 7, according to the Texas Medical Center.