At least 50 Florida hospital ICUs hit capacity

More than 50 hospitals in Florida have run out of ICU beds as the state struggles under the pressure of the coronavirus pandemic.

As of 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, 51 hospitals in the state were out of space in their ICUs, according to the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). This number doesn’t count the hospitals and medical centers in Florida that don’t have ICU capability to begin with.

Miami-Dade and Broward, the two most populous counties in the Sunshine State, reported a combined 14 at-capacity ICUs.

ACHA data shows only 1000 open ICU beds available across Florida, just over 16 percent of the state’s total number of ICU beds.

The state on Wednesday reported 9,446 new cases and a record 217 deaths. 

Florida has over 10 percent of the U.S.’s total number of COVID-19 cases, with more than 473,000 confirmed.

Florida was one of the first states to begin reopening its economy amid the pandemic and now it finds itself the new epicenter of the virus.

A Quinnipiac poll last week revealed that 57 percent of Florida voters disapproved of the job Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was doing, and 61 percent said that the state reopened prematurely.