COVID-19 hospital numbers steady
COVID-19 hospitalizations have held relatively steady across Central Florida this week, with each of the counties reporting enough hospital and ICU bed capacity, according to a state dashboard.
As of Friday afternoon, close to 9,000 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized across Florida, up from close to 7,000 last Friday, when the Agency for Health Care Administration first began reporting the data.
The numbers are updated several times a day, but on Friday afternoon, 625 patients were hospitalized for COVID-19 in Orange County, up from 475 last Friday; followed by Osceola at 175 down from 183; Seminole at 171, up from
164; and Lake 134, up from 124.
Florida on Friday reported 11,466 new coronavirus cases and 128 new deaths. There have now been 327,241 people infected and 4,805 killed. Experts have warned that deaths and hospitalizations lag two weeks to a month behind new cases and that the number of fatalities will continue to rise as more positive cases are reported.
In a press conference in Apopka on Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said hospitals across the state have enough capacity.
“We have 21% of the beds statewide available,” he said. “The bottom line is that we have enough capacity. We have the ability to care for people. And COVID, while it’s important, it’s just a fraction of the people that are in hospitals on a given day and all those other conditions also need attention as well.”
Statewide, Orange County had the fourth-highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations on Friday afternoon, tracking closely behind with Palm Beach County with 633 patients. With more than 1,900 hospitalizations, Miami-Dade had the most number for COVID-19 patients in hospitals, followed by Broward at nearly 1,200.
It’s important to note that the COVID-19 hospitalization numbers reported by the state don’t include patients who are hospitalized for other reasons and test positive in the process. That includes pregnant women. It also doesn’t show how many patients are in the ICU or on ventilators.
The four Central Florida counties also continued to report enough hospital and ICU beds. On Friday afternoon, 17% of ICU beds in Orange County were available compared with 32% in Lake, 38% in Osceola and close to 10% at Seminole
The four HCA hospitals in Central Florida halted elective procedures earlier this week to have enough capacity for COVID-19 patients. AdeventHealth officials have said that they’re evaluating their elective procedures in Central Florida.
On Friday, AdventHealth hospital in the greater Tampa Bay area paused their elective procedures that require an overnight stay in anticipation of increased demand.
“We will continue to closely monitor and evaluate the impact of COVID-19 in our facilities and we [have] strategic processes in place that we are prepared to activate and implement to ensure we are keeping our patients, employees, physicians and community safe,” said Mike Schultz, President and CEO of AdventHealth West Florida Division, in a news release.
Justin Senior, CEO of Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida, said that hospitals are adjusting their plans based on the prevalence of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in their communities. And in some cases, they’ve had to roll back nonemergency procedures once again.
In Miami, “a lot of the hospitals now are starting to dial back on some of the elective inpatient procedures, maybe even some of the outpatient procedures, in order to conserve capacity, but also to make sure that they’re not overworking their staff,” said Senior, who’s the former AHCA secretary.
He said unlike the early days of the pandemic, when hospitals stopped many procedures to conserve personal protective equipment, they’re now trying to serve all patients in the community in addition to COVID-19 patients.
“I think is important to keep in mind is that hospitals do have the ability, kind of like an accordion, to temporarily expand their capacity, but you have to really be mindful of how that impacts your staff and your staff’s ability to handle that workload,” said Senior. “They’ve got to make sure that their staff is staying focused, that morale is high because it’s a very tense situation.”