Texas officials deny hospitals' requests for hundreds of emergency staff to help with COVID surge...

“This delta variant is wreaking havoc in North Texas,” Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council President Steve Love said. “We've got non-COVID patients. We have COVID patients and frankly, we've got a very fatigued workforce.”

State officials previously approved requests from regional hospital councils. The Department of State Health Services spent $5.39 billion funding requests for medical surge staffing, almost all of which reimbursed by FEMA, according to a spokesperson. At the peak of needs in February, the state was supporting 13,618 medical staff.

Now the state is denying those requests and telling hospitals to ask city and county leaders to use federal COVID relief funds, but local leaders had much of that money already accounted for. Dallas County has not approved its plan but is expected to use its $512 million on programs like broadband infrastructure, affordable housing, and business assistance.