JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Emergency rooms in Jacksonville are seeing a surge of COVID-19 cases.
On Wednesday, Baptist Health’s five facilities reported 90 people have been admitted for COVID-19.
Of that number, nine are in intensive care beds.
At UF Health, 33 people have been admitted to the hospital for the novel coronavirus and 12 of them are in the ICU.
Dr. Elizabeth Ransom at Baptist Health expects these numbers to increase daily.
”The one thing positive is most of them are not sick enough to be admitted to the hospital so they can go home again and take care of themselves recover and recuperate at home. However we are definitely seeing an increasing number in patients who do need to be admitted,” Dr. Ransom said.
Baptist Health and UF Health are the only local hospitals that will release the information publicly about what is actually happening inside their hospitals. Since Friday both medical providers have seen substantial increases.
“Unfortunately our trajectory is going in the wrong direction in a significant way, so it is very concerning,” Dr. Ransom said.
It’s a concern across Florida.
On the state dashboard which tracks COVID-19 cases, it has not been listing in detail the COVID-19 hospital admissions. That is now starting to change with more details in various charts.
Health officials are now saying the information is helpful, but they are now pointing to a new concern.
Many are worried about what the numbers are going to show after the upcoming holiday weekend.
“Two weeks from now, we don’t want to see another peak related to social gatherings this weekend,” Dr. Ransom said.
She wants to get the word out for people to wear masks and protect yourself.
“Protect your family and loved ones as well as your neighbors,” she said.