SAN ANTONIO — On Monday, officials called it 'a little ray of hope.' Bexar County is starting to see a slow down in the acceleration of new coronavirus cases.
However, the hospital capacity is still concerning. Only 12% of beds are available now. As of Monday, 26 more patients are in local hospitals, which brings the total to 1,168.
Nurse Izamar De La Garza is just 29-years-old and has been in the thick of the fight against the coronavirus.
"This is real," she said. "It is killing people. And it is tiring your healthcare providers."
She has been working in one of the first units for the virus at University Hospital.
"We are exhausted," she said. "We want this to end. Believe me. We are the ones 24-hours a day providing this care."
She cares for the really sick in what she calls the 'hot zone'. She said most in her unit are on a ventilator.
"They are requiring crazy amounts of oxygen, crazy amounts of support with other values we are able to put into the ventilator," she said.
The last few weeks have been grueling for De La Garza and her co-workers. She said a bad day is seeing up three patients die.
"In every sense, it got bigger," she said. It got wider. more intense, more severe."
She said beds are filling up fast, and those who are coming in are extremely ill.
"It is the virus," she said. "It does so much to them that they just need so much oxygen."
Officials Monday night said we are just days away from running out of staffed beds.
"That is what is fearful to us nurses, is running out of things, running out of supplies, or PPE," she said.
De La Garza said her fellow peers are doing everything they can to not get the virus.
"I know where I have been," she said. "I know I am protected and washing my hands, and I am staying home. It is everywhere. I believe we are more at risk out in the community."
The Department of Defense is sending 50 medical and support personnel from Fort Carson, Colorado.
KENS 5 is told 250 nurses were requested from the defense department, and another 500 have also been requested from the state. These much needed healthcare workers will help at all the major hospitals in Bexar County.