FORT WORTH, Texas — COVID-19 patients have more than doubled over the last five days at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, according to the latest data released Sunday.
JPS was treating 80 COVID-19 patients on Sunday, with an additional 56 patients under investigation for the virus.
On Dec. 21, the hospital reported that it was treating 32 COVID-19 patients, with an additional 58 under investigation for the virus.
The hospitalization numbers rose each day before spiking on Sunday, jumping from 54 patients on Christmas Day to 80 on Sunday.
JPS provides daily hospitalization numbers, while most other hospitals in Texas fall into the data that is released weekly by the state each Tuesday.
It was not yet known Sunday whether other hospitals are experiencing a similar increase in COVID-19 patients.
However, the omicron variant of COVID-19 has led to a surge in cases across the country.
In Texas, weekly case totals had flattened to around 3,000 per week during most of the fall, before spiking in December. Last week, Texas reported 8,082 new cases of COVID-19.
Nicholas Salazar is the co-site owner for a COVID testing site, Texas Rapid Care, on Lemmon Avenue in Dallas. He spoke of the rapid rise in testing since they opened two weeks ago.
“We started off about two weeks ago doing about 20, maybe 35 tests a day, quickly turning into a 100 tests and then starting the 21st of December to the 26th, we’ve been doing 250 to 400 tests per day,” Salazar said. “Long days, long 12 hour days, lines start at 720. We’re out here ‘til about 6 p.m.”
By the end of the day Sunday, after several busy days testing, they nearly ran out of tests.
“We ship to San Antonio and then drive it down here. We’ve been ordering in bulk, non-stop,” Salazar said.
He expects testing numbers to continue to rise following the busy Christmas holiday.
“You have Christmas gatherings, Christmas dinners, all the parties, all the things and everybody’s just coming in to try to keep all the people they know safe,” Salazar said. “We want you to keep getting tested.”
Hospitalizations have ticked up slightly across Texas, according to the latest statewide data released on Dec. 22, when there were 3,376 people hospitalized with COVID-19. On Dec. 16, there were 3,064 people hospitalized with the virus in Texas.
Nationally, hospitalizations have increased 9% over the last two weeks, according to data collected by the New York Times.