JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — Some Jacksonville hospitals are preparing for a post-holiday COVID-19 rush.
As people continue to travel and celebrate holidays, the number of people with COVID-19 already in local ICUs is concerning to healthcare workers.
UF Health staff say they are opening a surge capacity unit as they are currently holding 94 COVID-19 positive patients, 30 of whom are in the ICU between their two Jacksonville campuses.
That number approaches a peak the hospital saw over the summer.
On a night when most hospitals prepare to be busy, Northeast Florida hospitals are watching the numbers closely.
94 people with COVID-19 are hospitalized at UF Health.
“It’s fairly alarming to be honest, we’re well within our second wave here at UF Health Jax, we had a peak COVID patient census at 111 at any given point, and that was in July,” Dr. Chad Neilsen, infection prevention director at UF Health told First Coast News.
He says it's concerning to him when the city's ICU capacity gets close to 90% ahead of another holiday.
“It’s fairly concerning, particularly with a weekend like New Year’s Eve coming up, where we know there tends to be more ICU admissions, more trauma admissions because more people are on the roads and traveling,” Dr. Neilsen said.
“Within the Northeast Florida region that is fairly high, if you look at Clay County, which has way less ICU beds than we do, they’re about 96 percent full in their ICU’s right now,” Dr. Neilsen said about the seven counties have 12.71% ICU capacity available.
State data from the Agency for Healthcare Administration shows across seven counties, including Baker, Bradford, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties, the adult ICU census shows 467 beds are taken, with 68 available.
Those numbers include COVID and non-COVID related illnesses.
Dr. Elizabeth Ransom, Executive Vice President and Chief Physician Executive at Baptist Health says while there is some worry, ICU numbers are fluid.
“We feel really confident in our ability to take care of both the COVID patients who need to be in the ICU as well as other patients who have other illnesses like a heart attack, stroke, or an injury who need to be in the ICU units as well,” Dr. Ransom said.
Dr. Ransom says the numbers are fluid due to some people getting better and moving to a lower level of care.
She says her hospital is prepared if there is an influx of patients from emergencies or from COVID-19.
“We are prepared we monitor the situation, hour by hour, moment by moment, but we do feel confident that we are ready, should we start to see increasing numbers of patients coming into the hospitals,” Dr. Ransom said.