The Florida governor today
said that 34 hospitals are now more than half full. Granted, Florida has 350 hospitals, but not all of them are equipped to handle COVID cases. As soon as the state reaches its maximum capacity, things will begin to get ugly.
Let me get this straight: less than 10% of the hospitals in the state are now over 50% full. What is that supposed to mean? That's about as obscure a number as I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it normally? It's March 22nd, so it's still snowbird season and the population in the state is higher than it is in the summer. I'm surprised the percentage isn't higher every year at this time of year. Maybe that's really the story: hospital census is abnormally low, but they sure don't make it sound like that.
Whenever I see a report like that I almost scream for context. What's that number normally? What's it supposed to be?
Many hospitals in Florida are not equipped with ventilators, ECMO, and proper facilities to handle infected patients with respiratory collapse. A friend of mine who is on an ECMO unit says that her hospital only has 4 machines.
ReplyDeleteI would add that The hospitals in Central Florida have a total of 1100 ventilators. On any given day, about half of them are either in use or under repair. Local ambulances own a couple of dozen.
ReplyDeleteThe point is, supplies are limited.