Florida hospitals taking steps to battle record COVID surge

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Florida’s largest infirmary systems are expanding their coronavirus units, limiting visitors and fearing staffing shortages arsenic they woody with the statewide surge that is breaking records acceptable past twelvemonth for some cases and hospitalizations.

Hospitalizations person grown tenfold statewide successful conscionable implicit a period arsenic the much contagious delta variant spreads, with much than 95% of COVID-19 patients unvaccinated, officials said.

“It’s an overwhelming request successful the hospitals close now,” said Mary Mayhew, president of the Florida Hospital Association. “Now we’re dealing with a comparatively caller variant mutation. The melodramatic summation is truthful antithetic than past summer" erstwhile the erstwhile records were set.

Florida is present starring the federation successful per capita hospitalizations for COVID-19. The authorities had 10,389 COVID-19 hospitalizations Monday, according to the infirmary association. That's astir 200 much than Sunday, erstwhile the authorities broke the erstwhile grounds acceptable connected July 23, 2020, much than a half-year earlier vaccinations started becoming widespread. It past had 10,170 hospitalizations. More than 39,000 Floridians person died since March 2020, including much than 400 past week.

Federal wellness information released Saturday showed that Florida reported 21,683 caller cases of the virus, the state’s highest one-day full since the commencement of the pandemic. Those numbers were recorded Friday and released Saturday connected the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says the surge is seasonal, caused by radical gathering wrong to debar the summertime vigor and humidity. He has barred section governments and schoolhouse districts from imposing mandatory disguise mandates and vaccine requirements.

But passim the state, hospitals are again seeing their COVID-19 wards filling aft astir emptying successful June.

Baptist Health successful Miami has opened respective caller COVID-19 units astatine its hospitals to location its much than 220 infected patients, a 140% summation successful 2 weeks, and is preparing to unfastened different portion this week. Dr. Sergio Segarra, its aesculapian director, said it was “a large mistake” for the authorities to driblet disguise mandates.

“We said the vaccinated could halt wearing their masks — and the unvaccinated stopped wearing their masks, too.” Segarra said. “People person been much lax and present is the clip not to beryllium lax."

Segarra fears determination won’t beryllium capable nurses, respiratory therapists and different workers to unit the caller units — a interest different infirmary officials person besides voiced.

Ed Jimenez, CEO of University of Florida Health Shands successful Gainesville, said coronavirus patients are immoderate of the astir labour intensive, leaving doctors, nurses and others exhausted erstwhile their numbers increase. His exigency country unit is again wearing N-95 masks astatine each times and that protocol volition apt soon grow to different departments. His infirmary present has 146 patients with the virus, up from 14 a period agone and conscionable abbreviated of its all-time precocious of 157 successful January.

Jimenez urged the unvaccinated to get their shots to assistance aesculapian workers and to forestall the state's smaller hospitals from being overrun. He fears smaller institutions volition soon beryllium forced to nonstop patients with breached bones and little superior illnesses to large determination hospitals, similar his that are 50 oregon much miles away. Many of the small, agrarian counties extracurricular Gainesville person vaccine rates of little than 40% and galore are seeing immoderate of the worst outbreaks connected a per capita basis.

“If you unrecorded successful that assemblage and you request to spell to the hospital, what is going to happen?” helium said.

AdventHealth successful cardinal Florida said astir COVID-19 patients volition nary longer beryllium allowed to person visitors, with exceptions made for children, caller mothers and the dying. AdventHealth's said the visitation prohibition is being implemented due to the fact that nurses person to assistance visitors into protective gear, taking distant clip from caring for patients.

The concatenation said it had 1,060 COVID-19 patients connected Friday, the astir caller numbers it’s reporting. That surpassed the erstwhile highest of 908 patients past January. As precocious arsenic June 9, the fig of COVID-19 patients had dipped to 126.

The Jacksonville country is getting deed peculiarly hard. Many counties successful that country person vaccinations rates of beneath 40%, according to the state.

At the 2 University of Florida Shands hospitals successful Jacksonville, 218 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized Monday, with 56 of those successful intensive care. In little than 2 months, that is simply a 1,500% summation successful wide patients and an 1,100% summation successful ICU patients. It besides is good supra the January pre-vaccination highest erstwhile 125 COVID patients were hospitalized and 29 were successful ICU.

Tallahassee Memorial said it present has 70 COVID patients, up from a regular mean of 5 successful June. Dr. Dean Watson, the hospital's main integration officer, said that erstwhile the unit saw section vaccination rates were little than 50% a fewer weeks ago, “we knew we were successful trouble.”

“This delta variant is nary joke,” Watson said.

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Gomez reported from Miami. AP writer Mike Schneider successful Orlando contributed to this report.

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