Dozens Of FL Hospitals Max Out On ICU Admissions

Fox News reports:

A surge of coronavirus cases in Florida has maxed out dozens of intensive care units (ICUs) at hospitals around the state, following an attempt by local officials to institute a phased reopening of the economy.

Over 40 hospitals are now hitting their limit with regard to ICU capacity. This news comes on the same day that Florida reportedly announced its second-highest one-day COVID-19 infection rate.

“We’re putting ourselves at risk and other people aren’t willing to do anything and in fact go the other way and be aggressive to promote the disease,” Dr. Andrew Pastewski, who serves as ICU medical director at Jackson South Medical Center, told Reuters. “It’s just disheartening.”

The Orlando Sun-Sentinel reports:

As hospitals fill up with ever-growing numbers of COVID-19 patients, officials are readying plans designed to avoid the nightmarish crowding that marked New York hospitals at the height of that city’s epidemic.

At Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where more than 90 percent of intensive care beds were full Friday, plans are ready to add 120 additional ICU beds.

At Baptist Health, which operates 10 South Florida hospitals from the Keys to Palm Beach County, administrators have begun hiring nurses to staff the expansion they’re readying as they run out of beds. At Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines, an auditorium has been converted for patient use.