Intensive care units in hospitals across Florida have reached capacity as the Sunshine State deals with record levels of new coronavirus cases.
As of Wednesday morning, a total of 54 hospitals no longer had open ICU beds for patients, according to a count by CNN using data provided by Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration. The news comes as the state reports thousands of new infections per day, pushing the state’s total number of confirmed cases close to 300,000.
Ten of the overwhelmed hospitals are located in Miami-Dade County, which has shouldered the largest share of the state’s caseload. About 70,000 people in the county have tested positive for the flu-like illness, and at least 1,175 have died there since the pandemic began. Miami-Dade County also reported a high 31% positivity rate for COVID-19 tests.
In addition to the 54 hospitals with ICUs at capacity, 40 others across the state have ICUs with 10% or less available capacity.
Florida reported 9,194 new cases and 132 new deaths on Tuesday.
Concerns about the coronavirus have pushed the Republican Party to consider holding its national convention in August outdoors.
