Texas rejected pleas for additional nurses, assistance. Then the COVID-19 surge hit.

When health officials in Austin and elsewhere in Texas saw an approaching COVID-19 surge last month, they sent urgent requests to the governor's emergency operations team to bolster the number of nurses and staff.

They had every reason to believe that more health care workers would soon fill hospital hallways. 

But as the sick inundated COVID-19 wards and ICU beds, the state rejected those requests.