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Florida COVID Hospitalizations Continue To Decline, While Adding 13,774 Cases

WUSF | By Health News Florida

Published September 10, 2021 at 7:59 AM EDT

While the pressure on hospitals in the state may be improving, it doesn't mean the pandemic is over and more surges can be expected, said Dr. Sanjay Pattani, of AdventHealth Central Florida.

Federal data shows Florida added more than 13,000 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, although pressure on hospitals has started to ease after they were inundated over the past two months as the delta variant spread.

There were 13,034 with the coronavirus being treated in the state's hospitals. That is a decrease of 418 people from the previous day's report. Of those hospitalized, 3,087 were in intensive care, accounting for 46.03% of the state's staffed ICU beds.

The improvement was reflected at AdventHospital Central Florida, which said it is transitioning into yellow status, meaning the seven-county hospital system will perform more surgical procedures. The Orlando-based system said it has some 1,100 patients with COVID-19, about a 30% to 40% drop since the summer peak.

That doesn't mean the pandemic is over and more surges can be expected, said Dr.Sanjay Pattani, associate chief medical officer and executive medical director of the system’s Mission Control,

Pattani said the virus will most likely never be fully eradicated, which leaves room for more surges. He also urged people to get vaccinated, if they haven't done so.

“We should expect surges and spikes,: he said. "If you look at the trends from the past three or four surges, they usually have a window of about four to six months. With a precipitating factor whether it’s Fourth of July, if it’s Thanksgiving, if it’s the summer or school starting.”

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the number of coronavirus cases in Florida rose by 12,386 in Thursday's report. The agency also reported that the state's deaths from COVID-19 increased by 1,296 to 48,273.

While the cases and deaths were recorded Thursday, they may have occurred in previous weeks or months.

The state’s seven-day “moving” average as of Wednesday was 14,297 cases a day. As a comparison, the seven-day average on Aug. 8 was 20,084 cases, according to the CDC.

Health News Florida's Daylina Miller, WMFE's Danielle Prieur and News Service of Florida contributed to this report.

Florida COVID Hospitalizations Continue To Decline, While Adding 13,774 Cases

While the pressure on hospitals in the state may be improving, it doesn't mean the pandemic is over and more surges can be expected, said Dr. Sanjay Pattani, of AdventHealth Central Florida.

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