BEAUMONT, Texas — 224 COVID-19 patients are in Jefferson County ICU beds Thursday night. The numbers are down slightly since Wednesday, but it's still among the highest during this entire pandemic.
With the direction we're heading into with COVID-19 cases, doctors said it's going to get worse before it gets better.
“We are getting tired. We are getting burned down. We are getting overworked,” Dr. Ray Callas said.
It’s the emotions health officials are feeling all over again.
“I cry, I cry. Me and my co-workers, we cry when I come home before I see my family, I have to put my game face on. Because it is heartbreaking,” Nurse Practitioner Rolanda Ford said.
Ford said from the start of the pandemic to where we are now is a complete 180.
“It's definitely worse. The patients are more critical the patients are younger. We have a shortage in staff. We have a shortage in equipment, and it's very scary,” Ford said.
The worst part is that Callas said we're still waiting to reach our peak in cases.
“We're looking at the peak being sometime the second or third week in September,” Callas said.
Southeast Texas broke a record number in COVID-19 cases this week.
In one single day, 644 cases were reported.
“I would tell you that if I was a betting man, I would bet, the death toll will probably be higher,” Callas said.
A prediction Callas foresees in the upcoming weeks.
“The unvaccinated is going to continue to cause the problem until we decide to come together as a state and as a community,” Callas said.
As Ford cares for her patients, she said she's constantly a listening ear for their regret.
“’Wish I would have gotten vaccinated.’ I hear that every day,” Ford said.
Both the Beaumont and Port Arthur Health Departments have started offering booster shots for the immunocompromised.