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2021-08-11 19:31:44 UTC
Florida Hospitals Are Overrun As State Fights One Of The Worst Covid
Outbreaks In The U.S.
Hospitals across Florida are now being pushed to the limit as the state
fights one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in the nation, fueled by the
delta variant.
The state accounts for almost 18% of new cases in the U.S., according to
data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Florida's surge in cases comes as GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to
resist calls to enforce mask mandates and other pandemic-related
measures.
Dr. David Wein, an emergency medicine physician at Tampa General
Hospital in Florida, said the Covid-19 outbreak there is the most severe
he and his colleagues have witnessed since the pandemic began.
In Hillsborough County, where Tampa General Hospital is located, the
number of new Covid cases has reached an average of about 1,200 per day,
according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. That's more than
twice the national rate when adjusting for population.
Covid patients are now occupying nearly 200 of Tampa General Hospital's
1,041 beds as of Tuesday, according to data provided by the hospital,
which serves western Florida and the greater Tampa Bay region. Sixty-one
patients are in the ICU. The surge in patients, most of them
unvaccinated, is causing a strain on the hospital's 8,000-plus member
staff, Wein said.
"Everyone is working at full capacity and then some, and it feels like
we've been that way for a long time," Wein said Tuesday in a phone
interview. He added the hospital was beginning to run low on nurses.
"It's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel right now."
Hospitals across Florida are now being pushed to the limit with ICU beds
filling up and providers struggling to find enough staff to care for
patients as the state fights one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in the
nation, fueled by the highly contagious delta variant.
Florida's surge in cases comes as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis continues
to resist calls from the Biden administration and state advocacy groups
to enforce mask mandates and other pandemic-related measures to help
contain the massive outbreak. He signed an executive order and law in
May that lifted all Covid restrictions across the state and permanently
blocked local officials from enacting new ones starting July 1.
In late July, DeSantis issued a controversial executive order that
blocked mask mandates in the state's schools, overruling two counties
that required face coverings for their students and defying the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention's masking recommendations. DeSantis'
office didn't immediately have a comment for this article and the
Florida Department of Health didn't immediately respond to requests for
comment.
Cases have continued to climb. Florida's latest Covid data, which is
released just once a week on Fridays, shows its seven-day average of new
cases hit a new record last week of 19,250 per day, up from around 1,500
in June and accounting for almost 18% of new cases in the U.S.,
according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. On a per capita
basis, Florida is second-highest in the nation in cases at 90 new
infections per day per 100,000 people - behind Louisiana at 116 cases
per 100,000 residents.
DeSantis has blamed the Biden administration's policies on immigration
for the new wave of Covid infections.
DeSantis' policies have been "utterly irresponsible," said Lawrence
Gostin, director of the World Health Organization's Collaborating Center
on National and Global Health Law. He said the policies threaten to slow
the entire nation's progress in ending the pandemic, especially as
schools reopen and employers begin to bring workers back to the office
this fall.
"With a highly contagious delta variant raging through the state, the
people have been largely abandoned by their state government," Gostin
said. "America is so close to getting back to normal. This could be a
major setback to our national Covid response."
Hospital beds are filling up in the meantime, with 86% of in-patient
beds in use compared with 74% nationwide as of Wednesday, according to
data compiled by the Department of Health and Human Services. Across the
U.S., roughly 10% of all hospital beds are being used to treat Covid
patients, while nearly 28% of the beds in Florida are occupied by them -
the highest of any state, the data shows.
Just over 90% of the state's ICU beds were in use as of Wednesday,
almost half of them filled with Covid patients, according to HHS data.
Florida's death toll is on the rise as well at a seven-day average of 88
daily Covid deaths, up 51% from last week but below the record average
of more than 180 deaths per day in late January, according to Hopkins
data.
The federal government is now sending 200 ventilators, 100 breathing
devices and other related supplies to the state, according to NBC News,
to help Florida health officials respond to the record number of
hospitalizations. DeSantis said he was unaware of the federal
allocation, but local and state health officials had requested equipment
from the national stockpile, according to NBC News.
RAND PAUL SAYS HE'S A DOCTOR SO WHY DOESN'T HE GO THERE AND SAVE THEM?Outbreaks In The U.S.
Hospitals across Florida are now being pushed to the limit as the state
fights one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in the nation, fueled by the
delta variant.
The state accounts for almost 18% of new cases in the U.S., according to
data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Florida's surge in cases comes as GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to
resist calls to enforce mask mandates and other pandemic-related
measures.
Dr. David Wein, an emergency medicine physician at Tampa General
Hospital in Florida, said the Covid-19 outbreak there is the most severe
he and his colleagues have witnessed since the pandemic began.
In Hillsborough County, where Tampa General Hospital is located, the
number of new Covid cases has reached an average of about 1,200 per day,
according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. That's more than
twice the national rate when adjusting for population.
Covid patients are now occupying nearly 200 of Tampa General Hospital's
1,041 beds as of Tuesday, according to data provided by the hospital,
which serves western Florida and the greater Tampa Bay region. Sixty-one
patients are in the ICU. The surge in patients, most of them
unvaccinated, is causing a strain on the hospital's 8,000-plus member
staff, Wein said.
"Everyone is working at full capacity and then some, and it feels like
we've been that way for a long time," Wein said Tuesday in a phone
interview. He added the hospital was beginning to run low on nurses.
"It's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel right now."
Hospitals across Florida are now being pushed to the limit with ICU beds
filling up and providers struggling to find enough staff to care for
patients as the state fights one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in the
nation, fueled by the highly contagious delta variant.
Florida's surge in cases comes as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis continues
to resist calls from the Biden administration and state advocacy groups
to enforce mask mandates and other pandemic-related measures to help
contain the massive outbreak. He signed an executive order and law in
May that lifted all Covid restrictions across the state and permanently
blocked local officials from enacting new ones starting July 1.
In late July, DeSantis issued a controversial executive order that
blocked mask mandates in the state's schools, overruling two counties
that required face coverings for their students and defying the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention's masking recommendations. DeSantis'
office didn't immediately have a comment for this article and the
Florida Department of Health didn't immediately respond to requests for
comment.
Cases have continued to climb. Florida's latest Covid data, which is
released just once a week on Fridays, shows its seven-day average of new
cases hit a new record last week of 19,250 per day, up from around 1,500
in June and accounting for almost 18% of new cases in the U.S.,
according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. On a per capita
basis, Florida is second-highest in the nation in cases at 90 new
infections per day per 100,000 people - behind Louisiana at 116 cases
per 100,000 residents.
DeSantis has blamed the Biden administration's policies on immigration
for the new wave of Covid infections.
DeSantis' policies have been "utterly irresponsible," said Lawrence
Gostin, director of the World Health Organization's Collaborating Center
on National and Global Health Law. He said the policies threaten to slow
the entire nation's progress in ending the pandemic, especially as
schools reopen and employers begin to bring workers back to the office
this fall.
"With a highly contagious delta variant raging through the state, the
people have been largely abandoned by their state government," Gostin
said. "America is so close to getting back to normal. This could be a
major setback to our national Covid response."
Hospital beds are filling up in the meantime, with 86% of in-patient
beds in use compared with 74% nationwide as of Wednesday, according to
data compiled by the Department of Health and Human Services. Across the
U.S., roughly 10% of all hospital beds are being used to treat Covid
patients, while nearly 28% of the beds in Florida are occupied by them -
the highest of any state, the data shows.
Just over 90% of the state's ICU beds were in use as of Wednesday,
almost half of them filled with Covid patients, according to HHS data.
Florida's death toll is on the rise as well at a seven-day average of 88
daily Covid deaths, up 51% from last week but below the record average
of more than 180 deaths per day in late January, according to Hopkins
data.
The federal government is now sending 200 ventilators, 100 breathing
devices and other related supplies to the state, according to NBC News,
to help Florida health officials respond to the record number of
hospitalizations. DeSantis said he was unaware of the federal
allocation, but local and state health officials had requested equipment
from the national stockpile, according to NBC News.