Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/1264973
t m c n e w s . o r g 4 t m c n e w s . o r g Crunching COVID-19 Data The TMC's daily dashboard offers statistics from institutions operating across nine counties B y M a g g i e G a l e h o u s e E arly in 2020, before the pandemic had arrived in Houston, medical leaders began to meet regularly to talk strategy and share information about COVID-19. "Every morning starts at 7 a.m.," Texas Medical Center CEO and President Bill McKeon said at a March 20 press conference with Mayor Sylvester Turner and city health leaders. "All of the CEOs come together and meet on COVID-19. It has been a tight alliance of all of us, sharing best practices and ideas, sharing the cases and how we're approaching them and actually planning for the future. … Our incredible institutions have been ramping up their own labs." From those frequent meetings and other conversations came a desire to gather and share Texas Medical Center (TMC) data about COVID- 19 caseloads, medical supplies and equipment needed to treat patients, testing capabilities and more. "Really, it's about the importance of public health—of working together across institutions to understand where we are in terms of the corona- virus and where we could be headed," TMC Vice President of Strategy Ashley McPhail said. In April, the TMC launched a data dashboard to provide up-to-date information on infection rates and COVID-19 case growth trends across the greater Houston area, as well as to monitor the availability of ICU beds, ventilators, personal protective equipment and other items at TMC- affiliated institutions operating across nine Houston-area counties. Those TMC affiliates are CHI St. Luke's, Harris Health System, Houston Methodist, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Hermann, Texas Children's Hospital and The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Facilities operating under other brands are not included in the TMC data. "We are trying to help people understand what's currently happening in our TMC hospi- tals, especially in terms of the number of new COVID-19 cases and the impact on hospital beds," McPhail said. "Not overwhelming the hospitals is very important. Since these data trends show that we're still in the middle of the pandemic, we will continue to provide this information for the foreseeable future." 0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 03/20 03/27 58 421 04/03 04/10 04/17 04/24 05/01 05/08 05/15 05/22 05/29 06/05 06/12 4,362 6,170 7,700 9,245 10,829 12,645 14,569 16,399 18,829 21,650 22,900 1,586 1 INFECTION RATE, as of June 15, 2020 Confirmed Positive COVID-19 Cases in the Greater Houston Area 3 There have been 22,900 total positive COVID-19 cases as of June 15, 2020. 1 "TMC" refers to the group of individual hospitals and institutions that make up the Texas Medical Center 2 Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller Counties 3 Infection Rate Source: USAFacts.org (https://usafacts.org/visualizations/coronavirus-covid-19-spread-map/) • This data is solely intended to share insights and best practices rather than specific recommendations. Individual institution data is shown as reported and has not been independently verified. n No concern n Moderate concern n Warning TMC 1 TOTAL ICU BED OCCUPANCY, as of June 15, 2020 Greater Houston Area 2 O 2,800 1,400 1,750 2,100 2,450 350 700 1,050 June 15, 2020 ICU capacity: 1,111 Total normal ICU capacity: 1,462 Maximum surge ICU capacity: 2,649 The TMC data dashboard, which is updated daily, can be found at tmc.edu, the TMC's corporate website.