Florida Hits Record Deaths, DeSantis Goes For Pizza.
BY: STAFF REPORT | BocaNewsNow.com
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2021 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — As Florida is again receiving national attention for setting a COVID-19 death record, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spent Sunday visiting a pizza shop in Bonita Springs.
Just hours after the CDC reported that Florida logged a record 1,486 COVID deaths over the past week, an unmasked DeSantis tweeted this:
The Florida Hospital Association, meantime, reports that 2,709 COVID-19 patients in Florida hospitals are now on ventilators. The FHA says that its member hospitals report 16 percent of all COVID hospitalized patients are in such critical condition statewide that they require machines to breathe.
We note that the FHA’s total hospitalization count is slightly lower than the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Fewer hospitals report to the non-profit FHA than to HHS.
The FHA’s additional statistics are on par with HHS and the CDC. The FHA says 35.1 percent of all inpatients in Florida hospitals are suffering from COVID-19. Additionally, 53.3 percent of all ICU patients are being treated for COVID-19.
Palm Beach County ordered hospitals in the area to report daily, local statistics starting on Monday. All local hospital information had been reported by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration on a near real-time basis until Gov. DeSantis ordered that practice stopped in early summer.
A Palm Beach County Executive Order now requires hospitals — including Delray Medical Center, West Boca Raton Medical Center, Boca Raton Regional Hospital, and Bethesda East and West hospitals to report to the public how many beds are in use, how many COVID patients are being treated, ICU availability and additional data. The order takes effect on Monday, August 22, 2021.
