More than 50 Florida hospitals have no vacant ICU beds as coronavirus cases continue to surge across the state.
The shocking figure was revealed in an internal FEMA memo, obtained by ABC News on Thursday.
The memo reveals that the ICU departments in 56 hospitals are now at capacity, with another 35 more than 90 percent full.
Overnight the state reported another 9,989 COVID-19 infections, taking the total number to more than 232,000 since the pandemic began.
The are currently 17,167 Floridians in hospital being treated for the highly contagious virus, the state’s Department of Health revealed on Thursday afternoon.
In Miami-Dade County – the state’s coronavirus epicenter – there are currently no free ICU beds at any of the hospitals.
The situation is particularly alarming, as the county is continuing to report higher than average positivity rates on its returning COVID-19 tests.
Miami-Dade’s positivity rate is 26.2 percent – significantly higher than the state’s average of 18.3 percent.
A FEMA memo obtained by ABC News on Thursday reveals that the ICU departments in 56 Florida hospitals are now at capacity, with another 35 already 90 percent full
Overnight the state reported another 9,989 COVID-19 infections, taking the total number to more than 232,000 since the pandemic began
In comparison, New York City’s positivity rate on Wednesday had fallen to just 2 percent.
As case counts continue to rise in Florida and critical care beds become increasingly scarce, Governor Ron DeSanits is forging ahead with his goal of getting schools to reopen as soon as possible.
‘We spent months saying that there were certain things that were essential, and that included fast food restaurants, it included Walmart, it included Home Depot,’ he stated during a press conference in Jacksonville Thursday.
‘But if all that is essential, than educating our kids is absolutely essential. … If you can do these things, we absolutely can do the schools.’
The COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to worsen in 40 states across America.
On Thursday, for the second consecutive day, the US set a record-high number of coronavirus cases with more than 62,000 new infections reported in a single day.
This breaks the previous record set on Tuesday of 60,021 and brings the total number of cases to 3.05 million.
More than 132,000 Americans have died since the pandemic began sweeping the nation in March, with 820 of those deaths recorded yesterday.
Deaths across the country have been trending downwards even as the number of infections surge to levels not seen throughout the pandemic.
California, once a model state for its response to the virus, has seen cases soar, and set a record-high number on Wednesday with 11,694 – although Gov Gavin Newsom says many are backlogs of previously unreported cases.
Texas also set two records of its own. The highest number of fatalities were recorded on Tuesday, at around 112, and 15 percent of tests came back positive, the most ever since the start of the pandemic.
On Wednesday, the Arizona Department of Health reported 3,520 new cases and, although not a record high-number, the state currently has more positive tests than any other at more than 25 percent.
CASES; Cases are also on the rise in the three-respective states. California reported a record 11,694 cases on Wednesday (left), which the governor says is due to a backlog. Texas recorded one of it’s highest at 9,979 (center) while Arizona reported 3,500 cases (right)
For the second consecutive day, the US has set a record-high number of coronavirus cases with more than 62,000 new infections reported in a single day (above)
