Florida Hospital Bed Availability Grows as State Approaches 500K Coronavirus Cases

Florida’s hospital bed availability has grown over the course of the last week as the state nears 500,000 cumulative cases statewide, according to data from the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration.

Hospital bed availability statewide remained steady as Florida reached what appeared to be its peak last month. On July 23, the state reported 389,868 cases of the virus, with 21.58 percent hospital bed availability statewide. On Monday, August 3, Florida reported 491,884 cases, adding over 102,000 cases since July 23. Despite that, statewide hospital bed availability has increased by nearly four percent, standing at 25.4 percent as of Monday morning.

Similarly, statewide adult ICU bed availability has increased in the same time span, jumping from 15.78 percent to 19.66 percent over the last 11 days.

Miami-Dade, which comprises 25 percent of the state’s total coronavirus cases and 24 percent of its related deaths, reported 21.33 percent bed availability and 13.14 percent adult ICU bed availability, according to a Monday morning snapshot.

Overall, the state has reported 27,366 hospitalizations. According to the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration, there are currently 7,970 hospitalizations with coronavirus as the primary diagnosis. Miami-Dade has the most coronavirus-related hospitalizations of any Florida county, reporting 1,655.

The statewide coronavirus mortality stands at 1.47 percent.

Florida has remained a target of critics, who say Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) reopened the state too quickly, leading to an explosion in cases.

However, as DeSantis has pointed out, Florida has increased testing, testing 3,758,496 people statewide, representing over 17 percent of the state’s population of over 21 million. Many of the new cases were among the younger demographic, and many cases were asymptomatic, the governor added.

CNN’s Chris Cuomo came under fire last week after criticizing Vice President Mike Pence for thanking DeSantis for his “strong and steady leadership” throughout the pandemic. Many pointed out that the establishment media had essentially given Cuomo’s brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), a pass, despite his state reporting more coronavirus-related fatalities than any other state:

About 7,900 of the coronavirus fatalities in New York stem from nursing homes or longterm care facilities, representing nearly 25 percent of the state’s coronavirus-related deaths.