Florida leads the nation in the percentage of inpatient hospital beds occupied by people with Covid-19, according to data posted Tuesday by the federal government.
As of Monday, 11,863 inpatient beds in Florida were being used by Covid-19 patients, about 22 percent of all inpatient beds in the state, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data show. No other state had as high of a utilization rate. The number of in-patients at AdventHealth Palm Coast on Monday was 80, more than double the January peak. The number had fallen to 78 today. There have been deaths there as a result of covid, but not yet confirmed.
The federal data also show that about 86 percent of the 6,572 intensive-care unit beds in Florida were occupied. About 38 percent of the filled ICU beds were occupied by patients with COVID-19, the deadly respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
The data about hospital utilization rates came as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported another 50,997 new infections in the state from Saturday to Monday. The state was responsible for about 21 percent of the newly reported cases nationwide during that span.
Florida also reported 100 COVID-19 deaths during the three days, making the state responsible for about 11 percent of the 906 deaths reported nationwide.
In all, 39,179 Florida residents have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic started in early 2020. The state has had more than 2.64 million confirmed cases.
Florida has been hit hard in recent weeks by a surge caused by the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus. The variant has particularly posed a threat to people who are unvaccinated.
A Florida Hospital Association poll of hospitals indicated 60 percent expect to have staffing shortages in the next week. Additionally, 23 percent reported that they will have to expand their patient care areas in the next week into parts of their facilities not currently used for care.
Hospitals across the state have been forced to cancel non-emergency surgical procedures, and some facilities have limited visitation as the numbers of people hospitalized with COVID-19 have increased.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday downplayed the hospitalization statistics, saying the news media was hyping the story.
“Obviously, the media is hysteria. You try to fearmonger, you try to do this stuff,” DeSantis said. “And when they talk about hospitalizations, our hospitals are open for business.”
DeSantis defended his administration’s policy decisions during the pandemic, from banning mask mandates to directing vaccines to seniors over front-line workers.
“At the end of the day, would I rather have 5,000 cases amongst 20-year-olds or 500 cases among seniors? I would rather have the younger, because of the effect that it has,” DeSantis said. “I think protecting the vulnerable has been the right way to go.”
During the early days of vaccine availability, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that front-line workers who have exposure to the public — such as grocery-store workers, teachers and police officers — be a priority for getting shots, along with residents and staff members at nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
But DeSantis ignored the recommendations and issued an executive order directing that vaccines be administered to residents ages 65 or older.
“We think doing the seniors first was the right thing to do,” DeSantis said at a press availability Tuesday, adding, “even amidst a lot of positive tests, you still see much less mortality than you did year over year, so that’s important.”
The governor said that while the number of overall infections has increased, the percentage of seniors and people living in nursing homes who have died from COVID-19 has decreased.
But White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has called out DeSantis for his policies, saying that the governor, who has touted “Freedom over Faucism,” is more interested in a 2024 presidential bid than curbing the spread of the virus. DeSantis and other Republicans have targeted Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, for criticism during the pandemic.
DeSantis on Tuesday reiterated that he will not order shutdowns to try to stop the spread of the virus.
“We are having schools open. We are protecting every Floridian’s job in this state. We are protecting peoples’ small businesses,” DeSantis said. “These interventions have failed time and time again throughout this pandemic, not just in the United States, but abroad. They have not stopped the spread, And particularly with delta that is even more transmissible. It if didn’t stop it before, it definitely ain’t going to stop it now. I think it’s very important we understand that.”
–Christine Sexton, News Service of Florida
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Ray says
No Kidding? I wonder how this happened….all the folks stopped wearing masks! I should say, Morons but I won’t . I have never in my life seen so many idiots in the grocery stores not using a mask, when this is the worst outbreak sense this started.
People are what I want to be away from that have no consideration for others.
Only Me says
Florida has recorded 50,997 cases in 3 days, and hospitalizations break a record
Michelle Marchante, Miami Herald 1 hr ago
Ron DeSantis’ move baffles vaccine expert
Biden calls on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign after report details…
MIAMI — Florida reported 50,997 COVID-19 cases and 100 deaths over the last three days to the federal government as the state continues to see a surge in cases not seen since January, the month with the highest number of cases since the coronavirus pandemic began 18 months ago.
WAY TO GO DEATHSANTIS WHEN ARE THE PEOPLE OF FLORIDA GOING TO HOLD THIS GOVERNOR ACCOUNTABLE FOR SOMEONE THAT TOOK AN OATH OF OFFICE TO PROTECT AND KEEP PEOPLE SAFE. HE NEEDS TO BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE HE IS NOT HOLDING UP TO HIS OATH OF OFFICE. IT IS ALL OVER NATIONAL NEWS WHAT DEATHSANTIS IS NOT DOING TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE IN HIS STATE.
David S. says
DeathSantis you know as much about this virus as a pile of horse manure which is ZERO.
Ray W. says
According to an August 4, 2021 Ministry of Health document, New Zealand has endured 2824 total cases of Covid-19, with 26 deaths. We are over 18 months into the disease, or roughly 550 days, which means, on average, New Zealand’s residents have contracted an average of barely over 5 Covid-19 cases per day. And DeSantis says lockdowns don’t work anywhere in the world. New Zealand’s lockdown did fail to completely “stop” the spread of Covid-19, but it sure did slow the spread. Perhaps this is why DeSantis very carefully couches his statement in terms of “stop[ping]” the spread, as opposed to the far more accurate term of slowing the spread. Since it is a given that a significant number of Floridians have persuaded themselves to never agree to be vaccinated, thereby greatly impacting the ability to ever stop the spread of the virus, DeSantis can be described as correct when he carefully phrases the issue as an inability to stop the spread. But, since DeSantis bears significant responsibility for persuasively fostering the plans of those who will never agree to be vaccinated, he can also be described as wrong, because he is the political leader in Florida. In this way, DeSantis can legitimately be described as both barely correct and significantly wrong at the same time. It appears that people are dying in Florida in a manner connected to DeSantis’ adopted style of leadership. Remember, personal responsibility is a choice and DeSantis has chosen his course, only he cannot be described as one who is personally responsible to his citizens. As Notimpressed would write: Oy vey! (Yiddish phrase describing an expression of dismay or exasperation)
Gigi says
Isn’t it amazing that all these anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers, (ant-science) are now seeking medical care, (science), medication, (science), and equipemnt, (science), to keep them alive? Shouldn’t they stay home and care foe themselves (anti-science)? They obviously know more than the medical professionals.
David Schaefer says
Totally agree, take away their health insurance and make them pay for everything.
shy guy says
My wife has waited in pain for 6 months to have back surgery and now it’s delayed until rooms are available at the hospital. THANKS TO THAT WORTHLESS PIECE OF CRAP WHO POSSES AS GOVERNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
David Schaefer says
That’s B.S. sorry your wife is going through this just because of those idiots . Check other areas for medical care Baptist or USF in Jacksonville you might have some luck or Mayo Clinic.
A Normal Person says
I agree. We cannot schedule my wife’s back surgery now because hospitals are flooded with Desantis covid victims and all “elective” procedures have been suspended.
Desantis LIES when he says “our hospitals are open”. He obviously hasn’t been near one and refuses to acknowledge reality.
Just wait til our maskless schools reopen and the patients that flood the hospitals will be 6, 8 and 10 years old. Which would you rather have, Mr Governor, 500 sick seniors or 5000 sick children?
Why should we have to choose? How about NEITHER?..
Jami B says
I don’t believe half of what I hear, politics aside ! I viewed this today on u-tube and understand this is in Volusia County, but I believe it can be used to surmise our schools here in Flagler County also ! Gov DeSantis is one person and I believe doing the best he can with what he’s got! Why can’t everyone be responsible for themselves and their family’s ! I have to laugh because it’s always someone elses fault as if they have magic powers to read minds of those who claim to know what this virus is all about. When it comes to school age children and should they or shouldn’t they be masked at school, should schools reopen, are things we all talk about. Same as our County’s ! If the Governor should shut us down, businesses will be lost, our lives will again be disrupted , if only people would take responsibility for themselves and quit relying on someone else to do their thinking for them. I don’t want to go back to what we were doing the last year or so, and I know most of you don’t either. But have you ever discussed what you’d do different if you were in his shows and elected to be Governor ? I know I wouldn’t have a clue so I don’t go calling names or placing the blame on anyone! I’m not a TV person, so I don’t watch the news channels you all quote when in a discussion. I read, everything I can get my hands on. I read the discussions here, I see what’s being said and try to figure out why this or that is happening without any input from those who have their own opinion, Gosh I hate arguing with people in general, a discussion is so much better, I’m not going to tell who I voted for, that’s my business and mine alone, not to be disclosed to anyone unless I choose to do so, that leaves a level playing field, I hope, and the person I’m having a discussion with is open minded enough to not let it get to the point of an argument. I see some rights and wrongs on both sides of the political spectrum, and then try and figure out what I believe is correct. I don’t care who started the border problem, all I know is it needs fixed, where is the solution ? I see gas prices and food prices rising, where’s the solution? It can’t all be Trump, and it can’t all be Biden, but the problems we are facing need fixed. We as ” the people” need to hold whoever is elected to the goals of fixing these problems. They didn’t start with Trump or Biden either !!!! I say, step into the shows of a leader and tell us what you would do, makes for a better discussion then the blame game. Personally, I know what I’d do, I’d start at the boarder and take back control and quit letting people in, and they are still doing this, letting people in! I have friends who travel the world, from Canada, and they have been down in Mexico for the winter months the past couple of years. They talk to the locals, and they hear how the Biden administration is allowing people to cross over. They also say they wouldn’t have tried while Trump was President, to afraid of being caught and sent back to nothing because they gave it all up to come here. So why try. As for the others I’m sure pretty much the same, if you come, you have to get rid of everything there, and getting caught and sent back after you gave it all up your looked at as traitor. With Biden, they have hope, and hope is what is driving them ! There has to be a way to vet them and allow them here, but not the way it’s being done. How hard is it to understand that? But it’s so much easier to blame someone! Here in Florida those who say DeSantis is wrong, he’s following in Trumps shoes, maybe he is, but we elected him, maybe not you or even me, but it was an election, the people spoke and in the next election, either run for the office or get out there and vote!! I personally vote but if the one I choose isn’t the one who’s elected, oh well, I did my best and voted. I do know I want to make my own decisions on certain things and will unless it’s hurting someone else, but here again, who am I hurting when for instance, I want to wear or not wear a mask, no matter what I decide, it will or won’t hurt someone , if their decision isn’t the same as mine. I get so bored of people saying they don’t like DeSantis,I wish they would go into more detail then just “he’s another Trumpster” ! Do you really dislike him, or is it because of another reason? Anyway, I may be a little off post here, but I watched a video today that put some thoughts in my head, I’ll try and post it here, I found it on U-tube so it’s not infringing on anyone’s rights! Whish is the reason I ended up writing a little more than I intended. I don’t ever chime in on these boards, I’m in the middle of the road on who’s right and who’s wrong ! But something struck me on this OP !https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLEpcBf2MIM This is a school board member in Volusia County questioning a Florida Department of Health member and the school board member shuts down the health departments ruling on wanting our kids to wear mask all day in school. I know if I had school age kids, no way would I want my kids wearing a mask all day! I’m going to watch and see where this ends up. I realize this is Volusia, and we’re in Flagler, But I feel that if parents can make the decision as to wearin a mask all day, maybe it can work here in Flagler too !! And DeSantis shouldn’t have a say as long as the facts are following the “SCIENCE”!!!!!!