COVID-19 filling up Fla. hospital ICUS
Desantis slammed by state Democrats in D.C.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Intensive care units in 43 Florida hospitals have reached capacity as the state grapples with a sharp rise in coronavirus cases, according to data released Tuesday by the state’s Agency for Health Administration.
The hospitals are spread throughout 21 counties, which include Miami-dade, Orange, Broward and Hillsborough. An additional 32 hospitals have seen capacity in their ICUS dwindle to 10 percent.
The state confirmed 7,347 new cases Tuesday, bringing the total since March 1 to 213,794. In addition, 63 more people died, bringing the total to 3,943. The 45 deaths per day averaged over the last week is a 50 percent jump since three weeks ago. Statewide, 380 patients were reported as newly admitted to hospitals, a single-day record.
Florida’s Democratic congressional delegation blasted Gov. Ron Desantis’ response to the coronavirus outbreak, saying Tuesday that his refusal to issue statewide orders requiring masks and impose tougher restrictions on businesses has caused unneeded deaths and spread the disease.
Desantis said at a Tuesday news conference that the key to curtailing the virus is for vulnerable people like the elderly or chronically ill to self-isolate and for others to wear masks and practice social distancing when in public spaces.
“Especially when it is hot out, when you pack a bunch of people in a private residence or have a party with loud music and a lot of hootin’ and hollerin,’ that is going to be a strong venue for transmission,” he said.
The state announced Tuesday that it will send 100 nurses to help Miami-area hospitals as it grapples with a surge in coronavirus cases. Most of the nurses will work in the intensive care units for Jackson Health System, which has seen its number of COVID-19 patients triple in the past month.
Meanwhile, in Jacksonville, where the Republican Party moved next month’s national convention, Mayor Lenny Curry announced Tuesday that he and his family are in self-quarantine after he was exposed to the virus. Curry said he has tested negative but wants to be cautious.
Sen. Chuck Grassley said Tuesday that he will not attend the Republican National Convention for the first time in his 40-year Senate career because of concerns about the coronavirus. In other developments:
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Alabama and other states with soaring coronavirus rates have a window of opportunity to bring it under control and spoke in favor of state and local requirements for masks in public.
On Tuesday, Texas surpassed 10,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day for the first time.
More than 100,000 Georgians have been confirmed to have coronavirus infections, as the number of people currently sick enough with COVID-19 to be hospitalized pushed past 2,000 on Tuesday.
Indoor restaurants and outdoor bars in San Francisco will not open next week as planned, while in Santa Clara County, officials plan to reopen hair and nail salons but will also hold off on indoor dining.
Businesses in Washington state are now required to refuse service to customers who don’t wear facial coverings, under a statewide order that took effect Tuesday.
Joe Biden is promising to shift production of medical equipment and other key pandemic-fighting products “back to U.S. soil,” creating jobs and bolstering a domestic supply chain he says has been exposed as inadequate and vulnerable by the coronavirus outbreak. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign released a plan Tuesday to reinforce stockpiles of a “range of critical products on which the U.S. is dangerously dependent on foreign suppliers” in places like China and Russia.