Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
White House report: Florida hospitalizations on the rise
Florida is having week-overweek increases in hospitalizations, while experiencing an increase in new cases and test positivity, according to the Nov. 22 White House Coronavirus Task Force weekly report.
Between Nov. 14 and Nov. 20, the average number of COVID19 patients who were admitted to Florida hospitals each day was 883. That’s an increase of 8% from the previous week, the report shows.
The state showed no improvement from the prior week in any of the metrics that measure the spread of the pandemic.
New coronavirus cases per capita increased by 39% from the week of Nov. 15 and COVID-19 deaths per capita rose by 2%. The number of long-term care facilities with at least one new staff member with COVID-19 increased by 6%.
More than 20% of the counties now have high levels of community transmission, up from 15% in the Nov. 15 report.
The weekly reports are sent to all state governors, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, documenting the state- and county-level status of the pandemic. However, the governor’s office has opted against making the reports public immediately and has been slow in releasing them in response to record requests.
The Orlando Sentinel has requested and is waiting for the reports for Nov. 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29. The newspaper, which has repeatedly had to involve its attorneys in order to get the reports from the governor’s office, obtained the reports for Nov. 15 and 22 from a third party.
“In many areas of the country, mitigation efforts are inadequate or too recently implemented to see a significant impact. All states and all counties must flatten the curve to sustain the health system for both COVID and non-COVID emergencies,” the Nov. 22 report says.
The document, which is produced by a task force chaired by Vice President Mike Pence, continues to stress the importance of masks and physical distancing — mitigation efforts that have been absent from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ messaging in recent weeks.
“Ensure masks at all times in public, increase physical distancing through significant reduction in capacity in public and private indoor spaces, and ensure every American understands the clear risks of ANY family or friend interactions outside of their immediate household indoors without masks,” says the report.
DeSantis’ office has not said how he uses the reports in his pandemic planning. During a Monday press briefing, DeSantis ruled out imposing any more restrictions or mask mandates.
“People in Florida wear them when [they] go out. They don’t have to be strung up by a bayonet to do it. Fining people is, I think, totally overboard,” he said during the briefing, one day before the state passed 1 million coronavirus cases. More than 18,600 Floridians have died.
As of Tuesday, nearly 4,300 patients with COVID-19 were hospitalized in Florida. That’s up from 3,800 patients on Nov. 24 and 3,400 on Nov. 17. And two weeks before that, on Nov. 1, there were 2,400 patients in Florida hospitals because of COVID-19, according to a dashboard maintained by USF epidemiologist Dr. Jason Salemi.
Central Florida also continues to experience a slow but steady increase in the number of hospitalizations. As of Tuesday, 440 patients were in local hospitals for COVID-19, up from 280 a month ago.
Statewide, the weekly average number of deaths reported per day rose from 56 on Nov. 1 to 87 on Tuesday, a 55% increase.
The state continues to remain in the red zone for having a high rate of new cases per capita, ranking 37th in the nation.
Florida has also moved from the yellow zone in test positivity to the orange zone, indicating a positivity rate between 8% to 10%, the report said. The state’s positivity rate was 8.6% as of Dec. 1, according to the Florida Department of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard.
The number of nursing homes that have reported at least one new staff member with COVID-19 also increased from the previous week, from 30% to 37%. More nursing homes — 15% compared with 12% the week before — also reported at least one new resident COVID-19 case. Four percent reported at least one new resident death because of coronavirus, up from 3% the previous week, according to the reports.
The task force report continues to recommend proactive weekly testing of teachers, community college students, county workers, all hospital personnel, employees of large private sector businesses and staff working in crowded settings to “help identify the depth and breadth of community infection.”
“Expanded, strategic use of point-of-care antigen tests with immediate results will be critical to expanding this model into the community; these tests should be used among all individuals inde
pendent of symptoms in orange and red counties in Florida,” according to the report.
None of the four Central Florida counties are in the red zone. Osceola County is in the orange zone, while Orange, Lake and Seminole counties remain in the yellow zone.
Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties continue to report the highest number of new cases in the state, accounting for nearly 39% of all new cases.
Orange County continues to rank fourth, ahead of Hillsborough and Duval counties.
As the number of new cases continue to grow across the country, the report has added a new color — deep red — which indicates 1,000% or more change in new cases per capita.
Twenty states currently are categorized as deep red, led by North Dakota, Wyoming and South Dakota.