Breaking: Gov. Greg Abbott announces Texas will be seeking out-of-state health care personnel to...

[demmiblue]

Last edited Mon Aug 9, 2021, 08:11 PM - Edit history (1)

Breaking: Gov. Greg Abbott announces Texas will be seeking out-of-state health care personnel to help with the latest surge, and he is asking hospitals to voluntarily postpone elective medical procedures.

Link to tweet

EDIT to add full press release:

Governor Greg Abbott today announced a series of actions the State of Texas is taking to mitigate the recent rise in COVID-19 cases in Texas. The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) will be utilizing staffing agencies to provide medical personnel from out-of-state to Texas health care facilities to assist in COVID-19 operations. The Governor has also sent a letter to the Texas Hospital Association asking hospitals to voluntarily postpone elective medical procedures, for which a delay will not result in loss of life or the deterioration of a patient's condition, in order to increase hospital capacity for COVID-19 patients.

Governor Abbott is directing the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) and DSHS to open additional COVID-19 antibody infusion centers in communities across the state. These infusion centers will treat COVID-19 patients who do not need hospitalization with therapeutic drugs that can prevent their condition from worsening and requiring hospital care. These centers also help increase bed capacity in hospitals so that resources are available for the most ill patients. The existing infusion center in Lubbock will expand capacity this week, and DSHS will launch five new centers throughout Texas beginning with a facility in San Antonio tomorrow. The State deployed similar measures in early 2021 to communities across Texas. Patients must meet certain criteria and have a referral from a doctor.

The Governor is also directing TDEM and DSHS to increase vaccination availability across the state and encourages all Texans to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Texans can visit covidvaccine.texas.gov to find a provider near them. Texans can also utilize TDEM's State Mobile Vaccine Program by calling 844-90-TEXAS and selecting Option 3 to schedule a mobile vaccine clinic to vaccinate groups of of friends, families, employees, volunteers, and more. Homebound Texans can also call 844-90-TEXAS and choose Option 1 to request a mobile vaccine team to come to their home.

"The State of Texas is taking action to combat the recent rise in COVID-19 cases and ensure that our hospitals and communities have the resources and support they need to mitigate the virus," said Governor Abbott. "Texans can help bolster our efforts by getting vaccinated against COVID-19. The COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective, and it is our best defense against this virus. Texans can visit covidvaccine.texas.gov to find a COVID-19 vaccine provider near them."

https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-takes-action-to-mitigate-rise-in-covid-19-cases-in-texas

[AkFemDem]

1. If only there was a way to somehow reduce the number of hospitalizations....

[leftieNanner]

7. Too bad they don't have any vaccines or masks in Texas

That would certainly have helped.

[Mr.Bill]

8. Mass suicide

of everyone who voted for Trump would be nice.

[luckone]

16. + If they all Jim Jonesed themselves harming no one else it would be the right way to go 😇

[machoneman]

52. Yeah, that's the ticket. JJ's to the rescue. Pass the Kool-Aid and damn the torpedos, I say!

[rickyhall]

46. Easy peasy: Drive to the Gulf, get out of car, walk south, wait for high tide.

[Blue_true]

12. I think that you are on to something, my dear Watson.

But of course, all that flies over Abbott’s head.

F E E E E D U M M M!

[sheshe2]

2. He caved and now wants the rest of us to clean up his mess. nt

[MustLoveBeagles]

10. Yep

[herding cats]

57. Yep, he used the words "mitigate the rise" but in reality is to slow the deaths.

He blinked and is 'allowing" outside nurses in.

Truth is there's not enough here anymore to staff this emergency. Many have retired early or gotten so burned out they're doing other jobs now. I know one who drives for Door Dash and another who is working at a bank. It's so sad what they've endured this past year and a half.

[Ocelot II]

3. I'm just wracking my brain trying to figure out what they can do

so they wouldn't need the additional health care people....

[Blue_true]

19. You should need only one brain cell to figure it out.

So, give all the others a few seconds off. Of course the one brain cell that would be working is one more than Abbott has in his whole skull.

[Wingus Dingus]

4. Why? Everything's fine. This is what Texas wants, isn't it?

[SoonerPride]

5. Texas. It's like a whole other country.

[SergeStorms]

50. Like one of those....

"shithole" countries MF45 talked about.

Now, I go hide.

[Mr.Bill]

6. He can have all the doctors and nurses

in California that are refusing the vaccine. They'll fit right in.

[FarPoint]

28. Makes perfect sense...

This maybe a tough love stance in some way.....It is the unvaccinated being severely ill and in ICU.....

Maybe a deal for children's hospitals and or pediatrics...the true victim's of the anti vaxxers...

Let me ask...having a brain fart....Didn't this Governor hold onto Covid-19 funds and not dispense for PPE's, vaccines etc....? So, maybe he will use the money in his thinking, to pay for the medical personnel????

[roamer65]

9. Why would any self respecting health care professional want to go down there?

To care for a bunch of unvaccinated covidiots and risk infection?

Anyone who goes is stupid.

[luckone]

21. $$$ they have to offer big money plus per diem

Last edited Mon Aug 9, 2021, 08:26 PM - Edit history (1)

From Januarylink before it really broke but gives you idea

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/health/article/Job-offers-of-up-to-12-000-a-week-lure-Houston-15875348.php

I know I keep talking about medical payouts vs free vaccine and how it’s going to cost us for all these unnecessary critical cases and I seem petty talking about money when people are sick and dying but astronomical costs

[FarPoint]

32. There is much more to this ya know....

Housing, transportation...and it's nothing to feel "safe" in overall....on a hotel like floor, maybe 2 washing machines and 2 dryers....They ride to the hospital on a bus....not all client's you deal with are covid-19...but most are...a friend of mine did New York City, Austin x 2 cycles then California...did well from June thru December....made a nice nest egg too....meals are a challenge..At least they will or should have plenty of PPE's now...not like they did in March 2020!

[luckone]

41. I think the link said 12K /wk plus per diem So yes crummy living to make 625 K in a year but

it’s not easy and nursing needs should be calming down now not rising up

[FarPoint]

63. Exactly....

The tRumpster brainwashing is powerful....I shake my head and also feel embarrassed by them...the no mandate no vax nurses...I think they need to retake their State Boards...

[Blue_true]

22. You qualified it with "self-respecting".

Their are a lot of anti-vaccines healthcare people. Maybe some of those should come work the Texas COVID wards.

[roamer65]

25. There u go!

Problem solved!

[FarPoint]

30. There is an huge group that one could recruit from...

" Healthcare Patriots"....was on FB....nasty bunch.... they also are apparently in other big cities trying to get nurses to walk off the job now and protest in the streets against mandatory vaccination timeline.... I was on for about 6 hours before the shit canned me...I got invited by a past co-worker...I didn't even come straight out and confront anything...just posed thinking questions and focused on negotiating terms with hospital employers.....referred to what our Ohio Nursing Association was positioning....the neutral line.....well...that even didn't go well...hahahah...

[Blue_true]

33. Maybe you should hook Abbott up with them.

Last edited Mon Aug 9, 2021, 09:48 PM - Edit history (1)

It seems like they should have found each other, but I guess that is too obvious for those clowns.

[MagickMuffin]

49. Who's Mike Abbott?

Do you mean Greg Abbott?

[Blue_true]

54. Yes. nt

[FarPoint]

64. They booted me off the FB site...

[Blue_true]

65. See. You should stop going on batshit sites using logic and reason.

Serves you right.




They are in their own little nasty, fact-free world.

[FarPoint]

66. Hahahaha

Yes, I am learning....

[nolabear]

47. Because people are suffering.

Jesus…

[elleng]

11. Asking for FAVORS???

[bluestarone]

13. YEA that's how you do it ASSHOLE!

Simple answer would have been, Hey texans get your shots and wear your masks, BUT NO CAN'T DO THAT!

[MyOwnPeace]

14. So, what IS his official policy?

"WE don't need to mandate prevention - but YOU need to help us heal?"

[Phoenix61]

18. Yep! Classic R bs. They make a mess and want someone else to fix it.

I’ve worked with emotionally disturbed teenagers who had a better grasp of how things work.

[MyOwnPeace]

23. Amazing, isn't it?

We have emotionally disturbed teens that are more rational than some of our elected officials!

[ananda]

15. A number of hospitals in the Houston area have..

literally run out of beds.

This is awful!

[Blue_true]

34. Is that for Houston residents, or are they taking people from the nearby

rural areas?

[GregariousGroundhog]

42. I'm not sure about Ananda's statistics, but...

Texas as a whole is using 77.6% of its hospital beds, and 18.1% of its inpatients have COVID. There are 12 other states with higher hospital bed utilization, but not all of them have high COVID rates. For example, Massachusetts is using 82.4% of its hospital beds, but only 1.9% of its inpatients have COVID.

Georgia and Florida have particular reason to be worried. Georgia has 85.7% bed utilization and Florida has 82.7%. Georgia has 20.3% of its inpatients with COVID and Florida has 29.9%. I suspect both states have localized areas of hospital overutilization (but have no data regarding that).

https://beta.healthdata.gov/dataset/COVID-19-Reported-Patient-Impact-and-Hospital-Capa/6xf2-c3ie

[FarPoint]

17. This is a time to shall I say....negotiate...

He needs to get at a microphone and issue masks, beg for the unvaccinated to get vaccinated....Do this on an hourly basis! Then, maybe some other needs too...the voting issues where he is blocking Congressional State Democrats I think, their money??? Use this as a leverage...

Yea...it's hard ball..." Game of Thrones" style".

Oh...he needs to admit he has been wrong all along!...He has been the "Enabler in Chief in Texas".

[GoodRaisin]

20. And at the end of all that he needs to resign.

[MyOwnPeace]

24. Now THAT would be sweet!!!!!!!

There's a 'plea-bargain' I could support!

[Dan]

61. I was thinking he should commit ritual suicide.

[stillcool]

26. but don't you dare ask people

to get a damn vaccination, or god forbid wear a frigging mask.

[Nevilledog]

37. ...

[herding cats]

48. He actually did ask ask for state agencies to start providing more vaccinations.

Vaccinations started ticking up last month, though Texas continues to lag nationally in percentage of people fully vaccinated, which stood at 44.4% as of Saturday.

As part of Monday's announcement, Abbott's office said he was directing state agencies to "increase vaccination availability across the state" but did not provide further details.

"Texans can help bolster our efforts by getting vaccinated against COVID-19," Abbott said in the news release. "The COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective, and it is our best defense against this virus."

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/09/texas-hospitals-elective-procedures-covid-greg-abbott/

It's the one thing he hasn't went extremist on, yet. He never said vaccines were bad or not effective. His masking line in the sand is killing people and overloading the hospitals with sick people, though. As is his not having been using his pulpit to encourage all children over 12, and their parents to be vaccinated before school started.

[stillcool]

58. ah well...that's good.

kudo's to him for increasing vaccination availability across his state.

[Takket]

27. well that will certainly piss off his base...

looks like he just lost the 2024 nomination to desantis

[Raven]

29. Who in their right mind would go to Texas? n/t

[Blue_true]

35. It seem that the anti-vaccination healthcare workers would jump at the chance.

Or maybe they just want to act like babies that have soiled a diaper.

[tavernier]

31. I am a retired nurse and now work for the school system in a non-healthcare area.

The Florida Board has been begging me to renew my license every single day. If I renew my license and take Texas reciprocity it would take a long time and I am not a good health risk because of my age. Long story short, in the end I would probably do it if I could be helpful to any human, but if one of the afflicted was the governor of Texas, I would probably tell him to bend over and kiss his ass goodbye

[herding cats]

44. You're a good person and I'm positive you were an amazing nurse. ❤️

Don't do it and come here, though. I feel like delta is just too dangerous for anyone, vaccinated or not, to expose themselves to if they have elevated risk factors.

We're probably only midway through this surge with school starting here and Abbott's "can't mandate mask use" mess. It will get ugly here in Texas. Sadly, many people who need non-Covid related care will also suffer as our ICU's fill up. Which is something I don't think a lot of people think about. A lady I know told me a few days ago if there was anything she was grateful for about her son's accident, it was that it happened while there were beds to put him in in the ICU. How sad is that?

Oh, and the part about Abbott, love it!

[tavernier]

56. I live in Florida.

Our governors are in a race to see who can inflict the greatest harm.

Good Luck to you my friend. Texas has a fine staff of medical professionals and they will hold the line to the Alamo and beyond.

We are all with you!!

[scrabblequeen40]

36. Wait. So prayer isn't working?

Who woulda thunk it

[spanone]

38. Best thing that asshole can do is resign.

Worthless POS

[bdamomma]

43. Abbott

killed enough people due to his negligence during the loss of electricity/grid situation.

[blogslug]

62. Sadly, the line of succession is not great

Abbott > Dan Patrick > Dade Phelan > Ken Paxton - all republicans. all terrible

[halfulglas]

39. Wait. If I were a health professional, would I want to work for a governor

Who was anti-science? Antimask? Anti-common sense?

[Corgigal]

40. I'm heart broken,

that boot strap tale isn’t true?

[Maru Kitteh]

45. Dumbass. Elective surgeries are not filling your ICUs. Also HELL NO would

I ever be willing to practice nursing in Texas under the current crop of Republican miscreants. I don't trust them. Nurses are always the first to get hung out to dry and I have no reason to believe I would receive whatever pay was promised or that I would be protected from liability when crazy RWNJ patients and families decide to sue me because I gave them the Rona with my communist infrared Chinese thermometer.

[UnderThisLaw]

51. I know a few health care professionals

who would be willing to go once a mask wearing Abbott gets vaccinated on live TV

[Bongo Prophet]

60. He's already been vaccinated, on Dec 22 of last year

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/12/22/greg-abbott-texas-vaccine/?utm_source=articleshare&utm_medium=social

[msfiddlestix]

55. wait. what? NOW he's taking action? No effin words.

If I could be in a room with him for five minutes, I know I'll have plenty of words then.

[MurrayDelph]

59. I've seen this before

[traitorsgalore]

67. "there are more important things than living"-- TX Lt Gov Patrick

Doesn't sound like a good state to work in, LOL!

[muriel_volestrangler]

68. "Greg Abbott ranks behind only Ron (Prince Variant) DeSantis as far as elected comorbidities go"

The wonderful Charlie Pierce on this:

They’re begging doctors to come to Texas while they have to ship sick people out.

You find yourself passing out and four weeks later, you wake up in Bismarck, looking out your hospital window at two missile silos and a snowmobile shop. Modern medicine at its finest.

Seriously, what if you are a particularly selfless medical professional, and you make the very risky career choice of going to Texas to help out, and a worried mom from one of the real freedom-loving communities where nobody can tell anyone else what to do comes to you and asks how to keep her kids safe at school. What do you tell her? Move to Vermont?

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a37270132/greg-abbott-healthcare-workers-come-to-texas/

[nattyice]

69. Second time this year that Texas is a failed state

Heckuva job, Abbott.

[crickets]

70. Dear Texas,

Time to vote blue if you want to live.

Sincerely yours,

2022