AdventHealth has highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations to date
ORLANDO, Fla. - Central Florida’s largest hospital system is reporting about 1,620 patients are currently hospitalized with COVID-19. That’s AdventHealth’s highest number since the pandemic began.
"This is a crisis of unprecedented proportion," said Dr. Vincent Hsu, Infectious Disease Specialist at AdventHealth. "We just haven’t seen these numbers. We’re about over two times the number of COVID patients than we were during the winter peak earlier this year."
Just three weeks ago, AdventHealth reported 1,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Now, that number is 1,620.
Officials said it is putting a strain on all hospital operations.
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"This has resulted in a lot of stress," Dr. Hsu said. "Tremendous shortages. We’ve got ICUs that are completely filled."
Dr. Hsu said AdventHealth is having to outfit regular hospital rooms and floors with ICUs to meet the demand.
He is urging anyone who needs medical care to go somewhere else unless it is an absolute emergency.
"We want to be sure that the people who are there for emergency care get the best care that they can," he said.
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He is urging the community to do their part by getting vaccinated, wearing face masks, and social distancing.
He said the delta variant is five times as virulent as the original COVID virus and doctors are seeing more young people admitted to the hospital.
"Half of the patients are over 40, half of them are under 40," he said. "We’re also seeing a lot of relatively healthy people."
Dr. Hsu said once the third dose and booster shots of the vaccine become available sometime next month, AdventHealth will be a distributor.
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