3 Houston-area emergency rooms close due to COVID surge

HOUSTON, Texas -- Three Houston-area emergency rooms shut down Monday afternoon due to the rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations.

According to an announcement made by Memorial Hermann, the following 24-hour emergency rooms will be closed until further notice.

• Memorial Hermann Convenient Care Center in Kingwood - 4533 Kingwood Drive

• Memorial Hermann Convenient Care Center in Spring - 7474 N Grand Parkway W

• Memorial Hermann Convenient Care Center at Sienna - 8780 Hwy 6 Ste B

Patients who are currently receiving care at these emergency centers will be transferred to another Memorial Hermann facility.

The health care system released the following statement to ABC13 regarding the closures:

"Earlier [Monday] afternoon, Memorial Hermann made the difficult decision to temporarily close three of its off-site 24-hour Emergency Rooms at its Convenient Care Centers in Kingwood, Spring and Sienna. As COVID-19 continues to rapidly surge in the Greater Houston area, and with hospitalizations exceeding prior surge volumes, our workforce is being pushed to the limit. We are actively pursuing all solutions to help ease the burden on our hardworking frontline staff and ensure that we continue providing safe, high-quality care to all those who need it.

Closing these locations allows us to reassign the staff to other Memorial Hermann locations where their help is critically needed. It also eliminates the need to transfer these patients to the main hospital for admission, if necessary.

Memorial Hermann is committed to doing everything we can to ensure we have the necessary resources to help respond to this surge and be there for all those who need our care. But the situation is very serious, and all Houstonians should be concerned. To reverse this devastating trend, we need every member of the community to take swift action: please do your part, and if you are eligible to get vaccinated, do so as soon as possible. At this point, this is a disease of the unvaccinated and it is preventable if people just get vaccinated."