Story at a glance
- Fort Lauderdale’s Holy Cross Health closed its labor and delivery unit over the weekend due to staffing shortages.
- A hospital spokesperson said staffing has reached critical levels as many staff contract COVID-19 infections.
- Florida is currently a hot spot of COVID-19 transmission, experiencing a 878 percent increase in positive cases over the last two weeks.
Pregnant people in Florida will have to avoid one hospital that is closing its labor and delivery unit because of a surge in COVID-19 cases among hospital staff.
Fort Lauderdale’s Holy Cross Health was forced to temporarily close its labor and delivery unit over the weekend as the hospital experiences a rapid rise of COVID-19 infections, among not just patients but its own staff.
“Due to the Covid-19 surge, Holy Cross Health has reached critical staffing levels in Labor and Delivery. In the best interest of patient safety, the Labor and Delivery unit is on diversion until further notice,” said Christine Walker, Holy Cross spokesperson, to local media.
Holy Cross will keep its newborn intensive care unit (NICU) and postpartum recovery unit open.
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), almost the entire state of Florida is under high level of community transmission. Florida is also experiencing the largest surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, with NBC reporting a 878 percent increase in COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks. In total, Florida has recorded 4.2 million COVID-19 cases, one of the highest in the country after California and Texas.
The omicron variant is driving the dramatic increase in cases, becoming the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the U.S. It now represents about 59 percent of all cases in the country.
A new study found that omicron may be about 36 percent more transmissible than the delta variant, but exposure to the new variant could actually help fend off the delta variant.
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