Texas health department denies aid request for COVID-19 care site at Travis County expo center.

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/08/19/covid-numbers-austin-texas-health-department-denies-aid-overflow-site/8187008002/

State officials have rejected a request from Austin-Travis County health authorities to help establish an alternative care site amid an ongoing hospital surge of COVID-19 patients.

In an unsigned email Tuesday, obtained by the American-Statesman and KVUE-TV, officials with the Texas Department of State Health Services incident command told local leaders that they currently are focused on helping to provide health care workers to hospitals.

“The priority at this time is to meet the hospital staffing needs to expand within their hospital walls,” the email said. The message was from a general incident command address and did not provide the author’s name.

In an interview, state health services spokesperson Chris Van Deusen said, “What we have found is that it is better to care for people who need hospital level care in the hospital. We want to maximize that before we move to other types of facilities.”

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