Fighting a surge in coronavirus cases in the spring, Florida appeared to be 'flattening the curve' as theme parks shuttered, sugar sand beaches closed and residents heeded orders to stay home. Now, it's almost as if that never happened.
A health care worker prepares to test a driver in line at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site outside Hard Rock Stadium, Wednesday, July 8, 2020, in Miami Gardens, Fla. MIAMI -- Fighting a surge in coronavirus cases in the spring, Florida appeared to be "flattening the curve" as theme parks shuttered, sugar sand beaches closed and residents heeded orders to stay home. Now, it's almost as if that never happened.
More than 45% of intensive care units in Florida hospitals were at capacity or had fewer than 10% of their beds available as of Friday, the state Agency for Health Care Administration reported on its website. "We saw the floodgates open really for young people having what we call asymptomatic or presymptomatic spread," he said. "Three weeks later, we are starting to see everyone else starting to get the virus as well."
Chad Neilsen, the infection prevention director for UF Health Jacksonville hospital, anticipates the hospital will run out of rapid test kits in about two weeks or maybe sooner because manufacturers can't keep up with demand. He said the hospital instead will have to rely on commercial labs, which can take several days to issue results. Quest, a company that operates many such labs, said this week that it is potentially facing an even longer turnaround because of high demand.
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