FORT WORTH, Texas — Tarrant County as of Tuesday had no pediatric hospital beds available, as COVID-19 cases among children have spiked across North Texas in recent weeks.
The data was reported by Tarrant County public health officials at the county's commissioner's court meeting Tuesday.
The exact number of pediatric beds occupied was not yet released, though officials with Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth said Wednesday that all 43 of their intensive care beds are full.
Ten of those beds are occupied by COVID-19 patients, according to the hospital.
The county had 382 beds available overall, as of Tuesday, with 4,105 people hospitalized. Hospitalizations in the county have begun to flatten, county officials said Tuesday, though capacity levels remain as high as they've been since last winter.
Bed capacity numbers can fluctuate often, as patients are admitted and released and as hospitals shift staffing. But the snapshot data showed what hospitals across North Texas have faced amid the surge in COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant and as many children aren't old enough to get vaccinated.
"Now that we have a vaccine, many have let their guard down," said Stephen Love, president of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council. "Please don’t do that. If you’re vaccinated, or unvaccinated, if you’re out in public, wear a mask."
Across the region, there were no pediatric intensive care beds available across all North Texas counties on Tuesday, according to the DFW Hospital Council.
In total, there were 94 children hospitalized with COVID-19 across the region, and 94.9% of all pediatric beds were occupied.
As of Monday, there were 52 children systemwide were hospitalized with COVID-19 at Children's Health, which has locations in Dallas and Frisco.
Across all age groups, there 3,500 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in North Texas on Tuesday, according to the hospital council's data. Tarrant County led the region, with 1,183 patients hospitalized, and Dallas had 975.
The latest data showed 54 adult ICU beds available in North Texas: 21 in Tarrant, 20 in Dallas, 10 in Collin and one each in Denton, Hood and Wise counties.