Houston-Area Intensive-Care Wards Overflow as Virus Spreads (3)

Houston’s intensive-case wards are exceeding normal capacity, prompting hospitals to tap so-called surge beds to cope with the expanding Covid-19 outbreak.

The fourth-largest U.S. city’s ICUs were at 102% of capacity as of late Tuesday, with 1,350 patients, according to the Texas Medical Center. The influx came as the Lone Star state reported new Covid-19 cases broke records for a second straight day and fatalities surged the most in seven weeks.

The sickest Covid-19 patients occupied 36% of those ICU beds, with the rest filled by people being treated for other serious ailments, the medical center data released on ...