MIDLAND, Texas — Midland Memorial Hospital is reporting both some good and some bad news on the COVID-19 front.
The good news is the number of tests being given and the positivity rate is going down. Additionally, most of their COVID-19 patients will have a short hospital stay.
The bad news is that the hospital is seeing its highest number of deaths since the start of the pandemic.
41 deaths have been reported just for the month of January, compared to 21 In December.
Meanwhile, the hospital is still waiting for staff to be vaccinated or file for an exemption before the Feb. 14 deadline. They say 139 out of 200 employees have not been vaccinated or filed yet.
"We do know some employees are likely waiting to potentially resign, hoping for some political or judicial barrier to come along to put the mandate back on hold,” MMH Senior VP and CFO Stephen Bowerman said. “That’s fine, we respect that, if that’s what they want to do. We ask they communicate with managers and let them know that’s what they’re doing. We just want to make appropriate plans to take care of patients in the hospital.”
Right now, there are 27 state workers in the hospital and 3 respiratory therapists. They'll continue working there until the end of the month.