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The federal government is sending generators, water and blankets to Texas and is preparing to ship in diesel, as well, to help with backup power amid the massive outages that accompanied the recent cold snap, the White House announced on Wednesday. A Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesperson said the agency has sent 60 “very large” generators to the state to help keep hospitals and other crucial infrastructure online. The spokesperson could not say where the generators had been sent. The agency has also sent “millions of liters of water” and “tens of thousands” of blankets, she said. (Wermund, 2/17)

Austin-area hospitals are facing widespread water issues after severe weather this week. St. David’s South Austin Medical Center said it lost water pressure from the city Wednesday, creating a series of problems. “Water feeds the facility’s boiler, so as a result, it is also losing heat,” David Huffstutler, CEO of St. David’s HealthCare, said in a statement. (Lopez, 2/17)

Millions of Houstonians awoke Wednesday to a notice from the city that their water was unsafe to drink unless boiled, an impossible task for many residents who continued to suffer power outages from the winter storm. A large chunk of Houston households had already lost water pressure altogether or had seen their pipes freeze, preventing access to the city’s water system. The crisis extended to key facilities, depriving hospitals and the Harris County Jail of running water. Houston Methodist canceled most non-urgent surgeries and procedures due to the water shortage and may do so again Thursday, a spokeswoman said. (Scherer, 2/17)

And now Texans are running out of food. From farm to table, freezing temperatures and power outages are disrupting the food supply chain that people rely on every day. Across the state, people are using up supplies they had stockpiled and losing more as items start to spoil in dark refrigerators. Some are storing their remaining rations in coolers outside, and trips to the grocery store often do little to replenish pantries. (Agnew and Aguilar, 2/17)

The American Red Cross on Wednesday urged those in the few areas spared by serious wintry conditions to donate blood amid sweeping cancellations. "Record-breaking cold and severe winter weather across most of the U.S. has forced the cancellation of American Red Cross blood drives in approximately 30 states — impacting approximately 16,000 blood, platelet and convalescent plasma donations this month," Jessa Merrill, spokesperson for the American Red Cross, said in an emailed statement. "The Red Cross is urging healthy individuals in unaffected areas, especially those with type O blood, to give now." (Rivas, 2/17)

Vaccination disruptions are widespread —

Severe winter weather across the country has delayed the arrival of 200,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to Florida, according to a local report. The doses, which were initially expected on Tuesday, should now arrive Thursday, said Samantha Bequer, a spokeswoman for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, to the Naples Daily News. But even if the shipment does arrive Thursday, vaccine distribution will still likely be delayed, she warned. "The state has been working closely with providers and has advised they begin to plan for delays in their vaccine delivery," she told the paper. (Farber, 2/17)

One public health expert said the delays were unacceptable. “Having vaccine centers take snow days is just going to back things up more than they already are,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “The virus doesn’t take snow days.” Adalja said people in charge of vaccination efforts must find ways to be more resilient to weather, “just like mailmen can deliver the mail through sleet or snow.” He suggested clinics use better contingency plans. The goal, he said, must be “a continuous assembly line of vaccines going into people’s arms.” (Naishadham and Noveck, 2/17)

After an unprecedented winter storm cut off power to the freezers storing vaccines in Harris County, Texas, thousands of doses were at risk of expiring within hours. Alan Hoffman, an internist at Houston Methodist Hospital, received a phone call Monday morning from Methodist executive Roberta Schwartz asking how quickly could they get shots in arms? It was a race against the clock. (Silberman, 2/17)