AUSTIN, Texas — More COVID-19 patients are on ventilators in Austin than ever before, with recent totals topping both July 2020 and January 2021 peaks numbers.
The pandemic high of patients on ventilators was reached Wednesday, Aug. 11, at 132. The number of patients went down to 127 on Thursday, according to Austin Public Health.
The previous 2021 peak was on Jan. 9, with 114 patients on ventilators. The 2020 record was 111, reached on both July 22 and maintained on July 23, according to APH data.
The next wave of the coronavirus caused Central Texas to record other pandemic highs this week. On Thursday, Aug. 12, the number of COVID-19 patients in Austin-area ICUs reached an all-time high of 239, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
A total of 233 was the previously recorded peak in January of 2021.
ICU capacity in Trauma Service Area O, which serves 2.3 million people across 11 counties, reached an all-time low Monday night with just two ICU beds available.
The 7-day moving average for patients on a ventilator is 119 in the Austin metropolitan area, according to APH. This 7-day average is one of the factors APH uses to determine staging in Austin.
Austin is currently in Stage 5 of its COVID-19 risk-based guidelines.
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