VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – As the nation grapples with surging coronavirus hospitalizations, intensive care unit beds at AdventHealth hospitals in Volusia County are nearly all filled.
Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reveals that for the week of July 29, ICUs at two AdventHealth hospitals were over capacity. Tuesday’s hospitalization update shows numbers were trending to stay that way.
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HHS said 14 ICU beds at AdventHealth’s campus in New Smyrna Beach were all full. It is a similar situation at Fish Memorial, where 40 out of 41 beds were occupied with patients. HHS does not break down coronavirus hospitalization data by county.
AdventHealth in Daytona Beach has 49 ICU beds, according to the HHS report. However, the hospital said it is treating 58 patients. DeLand’s AdventHealth campus has 27 patients in its ICU but reports it only has 25 ICU beds in its hospital.
News 6 reached out to AdventHealth to get more perspective on the patients in their ICU.
On Tuesday, HHS officials said 15,169 inpatient beds across Florida hospitals were filled with people being treated for COVID-19. However, 47.17% of ICU beds statewide are being used for virus patients, according to HHS.
HHS collects its data from hospitals that report their information to the federal agency.
In Volusia County alone this week, there have been 313 covid hospitalizations. The hospitals report most virus patients are unvaccinated.
“They are inundated with COVID-19 patients and it affects the entire healthcare system,” said Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry.
Henry and the city hosted a vaccine clinic Tuesday, offering $50 Walmart gift cards per shot. The mayor said 167 people came through.
“I just wanted to do this as more of an incentive to encourage those who might continue to be apprehensive,” he said.
Henry said the money was donated by local businesses. He said he’s going to keep looking for ways to incentivize the shot and hopefully, he says, keep more people out of the hospital.
“If we want to keep our community safe and we want to keep our economy thriving, it’s important we get as many vaccinations completed as possible,” he said.
The next clinic will be Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Midtown Community Center.