ORLANDO, Fla. – While recent models show the state’s peak could be sooner than initially expected and with fewer deaths, Florida officials are still preparing for the worst.
In a news conference Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said leaders are preparing to open field hospitals throughout the state as the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in Florida grows closer.
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The latest models from The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation -- most widely-cited by U.S. health officials -- show the death toll will be close to 149 per day when the outbreak reaches its projected April 21 peak. Previously, the models showed Florida experiencing a peak in fatal coronavirus cases on April 23, with 239 deaths per day during the worst of the pandemic.
[Timeline: The spread of coronavirus in Florida]
With more than 15,000 Florida-related cases and more than 300 deaths already reported statewide, DeSantis said there is still a reported 43% availability in Florida’s hospitals.
The governor said state, local and federal leaders are working together to use the extra time to prepare for the worst.
“We have capacity at the hospitals. We don’t know what a surge may bring but we have to prepare for that so that we’re able to take care of people," DeSantis said.
To serve Southeast Florida, the state’s hardest-hit region, DeSantis said a temporary hospital is currently under construction at the Miami Beach Convention Center. When it’s finished, it will be able to hold up to 1,000 beds for COVID-19 patients if needed.
DeSantis said at least four other additional field hospitals could be in the works for Broward and Palm Beach Counties and potentially areas on the west coast or in the northeast portion of Florida.
He said 4,300 hospital beds and more than 150 ICU beds are ready to deploy, though he hopes they won’t be needed.
“I would much rather be prepared for the worst and the worst not come here than not be prepared,” DeSantis said.
Leaders in Central Florida are also preparing for a possible surge.
In Orange County, where hospital availability currently stands at 44%, according to the governor, Mayor Jerry Demings said leaders plan to use the Orange County Convention Center as a medical site if necessary.
[INTERACTIVE MAP: Track Florida coronavirus cases]
With more than 800 reported, Orange County has the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases out of any Central Florida county, according to the latest numbers from the Florida Department of Health.
Leaders with AdventHealth Central Florida said they have been planning for a surge in patients since February by assembling task force teams to evaluate staffing at their facilities, having supply chain teams scour the globe for necessary equipment and supplies and reducing the number of patients in their hospitals by halting elective procedures, which has freed up space and supplies that would be needed to face a potential surge.
Excluding the neonatal intensive care unit and progressive care unit, AdventHealth has about 570 critical care beds in Central Florida, according to a Wednesday update. Their teams are prepared to convert other rooms into critical care space if needed, which would add a hundred more intensive care beds and expand their ICU capacity throughout the region, officials said in the update.
The Agency for Health Care Administration is tracking available hospital and ICU beds around the state and making those numbers public to help determine what resources will be needed in the weeks to come.
Working with healthcare facilities, the agency created a dashboard showing hospital bed availability totals, including ICU beds, at both the county and hospital level. The numbers are updated hourly by the AHCA.
View the database below to see how many beds are available by hospital and county.
AdventHealth officials said they also have hundreds of ventilators in stock and have ordered hundreds more ahead of Florida’s projected peak.
Ventilators have emerged as crucial medical tools in treating COVID-19 patients. The machines pump air to a person’s lungs through a tube inserted in the windpipe and can be lifesaving for severely ill patients.
Health care workers in Central Florida and around the world are also in desperate need of masks and other forms of personal protective equipment since the start of the pandemic.
State officials said they’re doing what they can to help get the supplies needed at health care facilities in Florida.
“The Florida Division of Emergency Management receives supplies on a rolling basis and is constantly distributing those supplies across the state,” said spokesman Jason Mahon. “We are continuing to work closely with our local partners from every region and will continue to provide supplies as they are received.”
Jared Moskowitz, the director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management who says he’s been in contact with White House officials regarding the need for supplies, said in the news conference Wednesday that everyone is competing for the same supplies.
“We are competing against everybody but Antarctica for masks,” Moskowitz said.
Moskowitz said millions of masks have been ordered nationwide but several states are having trouble getting supplies delivered.
He said getting PPE to everyone on the front lines during the crisis is one of his agency’s top priorities.
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