A Texas children’s hospital is admitting adult patients as coronavirus cases surge throughout the state, according to a report.
Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston will offer beds to adult patients in order to provide relief to other medical centers, news station KHOU reported.
The coronavirus patients will be cared for in an expanded isolation unit at the hospital’s west campus, the outlet reported.
“Texas Children’s Hospital, our employees, medical staff and leadership team continue to carefully monitor the ongoing active transmission and increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the greater Houston area and across the State,” the hospital said in a statement.
“We are committed to doing our part to assist the city as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said this week that the coronavirus is spreading there “at an unacceptable rate.”
“To state the obvious, COVID-19 is now spreading at an unacceptable rate in the state of Texas, and it must be corralled,” Abbott said. “We have several strategies to reduce the spread without shutting Texas back down, but it is up to all of us to do our part to protect ourselves and others.”
On Monday, the Lone Star State had reported 11 consecutive days of breaking its own record for the number of virus-related hospitalizations, according to the Texas Tribune.
More than 120,000 Texans have tested positive for the virus, leading to at least 2,200 deaths, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.