BEAUMONT, Texas — The Beaumont Public Health Department reported 422 new cases of the virus.
As we enter calendar year three in the pandemic, it's not the sheer number of COVID-19 cases to watch. It's the hospitalizations.
One Southeast Texas doctor said this latest surge is similar to the delta surge in that we could be out of the woods in a matter of weeks, but it's still leaving hospital staff stretched thin.
"This variant is just like a wildfire and we have a lot of people getting sick," said Dr. Qamar Arfeen, a pulmonologist with Baptist Hospitals.
Arfeen has been on the frontline of this pandemic. He's the COVID-19-unit lead at Baptist Hospitals.
So, how does the omicron surge compare to the delta surge when it comes to patients in his hospital?
"In any given day, we see more sick people, patients, than what we saw with delta," Arfeen said.
Arfeen said the ICU at Baptist Hospitals is at capacity and a majority of those in the ICU are unvaccinated. He said this is a concern for hospital staff.
"We just hoping that it just goes away quickly,” Arfeen said. “That It does not jeopardize us taking care of patients who don't have COVID or who are staying away from the hospital or delaying their elective surgeries."
As Southeast Texas hospitals like Baptist Hospitals are filling up with COVID-19 patients again, there are outside facilities doing their part to alleviate the burden.
This includes Mid Jefferson Extended Care Hospital. CEO Nikki Robin said they have two facilities, one in Beaumont and another in Nederland. Each one is being used to treat overflow COVID-19 patients.
According to Robin, the Beaumont facility, which started taking COVID-19 patients last week, is already at capacity but the state is sending additional nurses and respiratory therapists to help with the surge.
Arfeen said while the high hospitalization numbers may continue for a few more weeks we could soon be out of the woods when it comes to the omicron surge.
"If you have most of the people are infected and just like with Delta, it lasted six to eight weeks, I believe it may be more or less the same or hopefully probably a little bit less than what we saw in Delta,” Arfeen said.
Arfeen also said this latest surge comes during the winter, a time when hospitals normally see more patients due to the flu and other illnesses.
As of Tuesday, there are 148 COVID-19 patients in Jefferson County, but most of them are being treated in regular rooms and not the ICU.
The COVID-19 hospitalization rate is hovering around 30%. Roughly one in three patients have COVID-19.