The number of COVID-19 cases in El Paso continues to soar. Hospitals are at capacity and some patients are being airlifted to other cities. Over the weekend, the county reported a .
The situation is so bleak, El Paso鈥檚 county judge ordered a two-week shutdown of non-essential services. That shutdown now faces a from the state.
El Paso鈥檚 situation is similar to what happened in another border region, earlier this year. In July, the Rio Grande Valley became a COVID hotspot.
鈥淥ur numbers went from 35 patients to six weeks later we had almost 2,000,鈥� Hidalgo County health authority Dr. Ivan Melendez said .
It was a difficult summer. Melendez treated people he had known for years, who could no longer breathe on their own. He lost colleagues to the virus and also got sick.
鈥淪o I was very, very, very scared myself,鈥� he said.
At the same time, El Paso wasn鈥檛 hit nearly as hard. Both regions are on the border and have similar demographics. Melendez figured maybe El Pasoans have better access to primary care, which would mean fewer untreated, underlying conditions that put people at risk.
But now, El Paso is a hotspot.
Late last week, local health officials painted a grim picture. County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said if something doesn鈥檛 change, El Paso will see an unprecedented number of deaths.
鈥淲hen we start thinking of working with the morgues and coming up with places to store these souls, and we start shipping our patients to other communities, I don鈥檛 know what else would say this is the time to do everything we can to help the medical profession,鈥� he said.
Jacob Cintron, head of University Medical Center, said COVID-19 hospitalizations were the highest they鈥檇 ever been.
鈥淎t some point logically we鈥檙e gonna run out of capability,鈥� he said. 鈥淰arious hospitals have added 60 beds. 80 beds. We鈥檝e added over a hundred beds and are looking to add more.鈥�
That includes overflow tents, set up in hospital parking lots.
Hidalgo County health authority Ivan Melendez has been here and has advice for this border region.
He says it鈥檚 important for local leaders to connect early with state and federal agencies that can send in resources, like extra beds for field hospitals and medical personnel.
鈥淏e early in engaging them and be early in planning to bring these people in,鈥� Melendez said.
have arrived in El Paso from other parts of the state since the COVID surge began.
Melendez also recommends frontline workers take care of themselves. You鈥檒l be fatigued and heartbroken, he said. People you鈥檝e known for years will perish. During all this, it鈥檚 important to acknowledge the elephant in the room: anger.
鈥淵ou will get frustrated and you will get angry because people will not follow the social distancing recommendations and you think to yourself, are the sacrifices that we鈥檙e making worth this community that鈥檚 not willing to listen, to heed our advice?鈥� Melendez said. 鈥淐an it be that people still don鈥檛 believe that this exists? Is it possible that people are still politicizing this?鈥�
Melendez said it鈥檚 important for frontline healthcare workers to recognize that sense of anger and frustration comes from fear.
鈥淭hat fear usually is of you dying, your mom dying, your children dying, someone in your community that you鈥檙e exposing because you鈥檙e at work so much,鈥� he said.
Melendez鈥檚 last piece of advice isn鈥檛 for right now, when El Paso is in the thick of things, but for once the surge is over. He said it鈥檚 critical to prepare for the next wave of the pandemic by improving the baseline health of the community.
鈥淧ut money into programs for primary care,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he programs that will help people control their diabetes better, their hypertension better, their obesity better because those are the comorbidities most associated with death once you get COVID.鈥�
It鈥檚 crucial to improve community health, he said, so people have the best possible chance of surviving whatever comes next.
Mallory Falk is a corps member with , a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Got a tip? Email Mallory at Mfalk@kera.org. You can follow Mallory on Twitter .
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