[M T]

Time to get into a hospital bed usually has more to do with nursing availability than census. Hospitals try to run lean to save money. Normally you have to wait for the next nursing shift when they call in extra nurses to get out of the ER and into a bed.

I take that to mean that if ER beds are occupied waiting for hospital beds, the ER nurses covering those beds are still assigned to them, so they aren't available to take a patient waiting in an ambulance for a ER nurse to be assigned (which at least one of the articles was saying that was taking up to an hour).  Then, since that ambulance is busy, their response time is impacted.   [I do presume that a triage happens, so a trauma victim (or other patient in immediate distress) gets help immediately.]

The Texas Hospital Association lists 81 hospitals in Harris County (of which Houston is the majority of that area).  The Greater Houston area encompasses 9 counties.  The Houston Chronicle gave the bed counts of the larger hospitals in the area in 2013.  (The Wikipedia  page on Houston hospitals is scatter-brained, so don't bother with it (yet).)

The Texas governor mandated that elective surgeries had to be cease in Harris County (I think that was this past Tuesday.) 

The Texas governor said that if mask usage doesn't improve and cases continue to spike, he may have to shut the state down again.  He indicated that would be a last resort.

[M T]

Time to get into a hospital bed usually has more to do with nursing availability than census. Hospitals try to run lean to save money. Normally you have to wait for the next nursing shift when they call in extra nurses to get out of the ER and into a bed.

I take that to mean that if ER beds are occupied waiting for hospital beds, the ER nurses covering those beds are still assigned to them, so they aren't available to take a patient waiting in an ambulance for a ER nurse to be assigned (which at least one of the articles was saying that was taking up to an hour).  Then, since that ambulance is busy, their response time is impacted.   [I do presume that a triage happens, so a trauma victim (or other patient in immediate distress) gets help immediately.]

The Texas Hospital Association lists 81 hospitals in Harris County (of which Houston is the majority of that area).  The Greater Houston area encompasses 9 counties.  The Houston Chronicle gave the bed counts of the larger hospitals in the area in 2013.  (The Wikipedia  page on Houston hospitals is scatter-brained, so don't bother with it (yet).)

The Texas governor mandated that elective surgeries had to be cease in Harris County (I think that was this past Tuesday.) 

The Texas governor said that if mask usage doesn't improve and cases continue to spike, he may have to shut the state down again.  He indicated that would be a last resort.