ODESSA, Texas — Hospital leaders at Midland Memorial Hospital told NewsWest 9 August was the third highest month in regard to COVID-19 deaths they have seen since the beginning of the pandemic.
Last month, 31 people died from the virus at MMH. In Odessa, the situation was worse. 43 people died from the virus at Medical Center Hospital from Aug. 1 to Sept. 2.
Hospital leaders are worried the holidays could put them in an even grimmer situation, especially as people gather for Labor Day weekend.
"We are getting back into that cycle where things start getting into holidays and then cases ramp up," said Russell Tippin, CEO for MCH. "Then there is another holiday, and another one, and we are right back in that situation we were in this time last year."
Local health leaders want to remind the community that hospitalizations are still extremely high.
"What we don't know for our community right now is have we have peaked," said Rohith Saravanan, Chief Medical Officer for ORMC. "We don't know the answer to that yet. We are hopeful that if we have peaked we can anticipate a quick decline afterwards."
MMH President Russell Meyers said the number of people testing positive in their testing centers continues to go down slightly. He wants to remind the community that it is not a sign to let their guard down, especially since hospitals are still full.
"We've still got over 100 patients at the hospital," said Meyers. "That is a very high historic number for COVID patients at the hospital. The signs are somewhat encouraging, but its going to take several more days of continuing reductions to call that a trend."
This was a common sentiment shared among hospitals in the area.
"We are cautiously always optimistic that we are going to see this break over, get off this incline, break over and get steady," said Tippin. "Our steady number is too high, its 100 plus. That is just too high, but we are always cautiously optimistic about that number."
Hospital leaders said the best way to avoid another surge is to get the vaccine.
"The hospitals are at max capacity, so we are pleading with our community to please wear your mask, wash your hands and get your vaccine," said Tippin.
As of Thursday, MMH has 103 patients hospitalized with the virus. Over in Odessa, MCH reported 102 patients with COVID-19.