ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Hospitals are seeing larger numbers of positive cases in people who didn’t know they had COVID-19, and were initially admitted for other reasons.
Hospitals are now immediately testing all patients before treatment, and seeing larger numbers of positives tests in people who didn’t know they were infected.
“You are managing a normal patient load, in addition to managing these COVID patients which are still coming in as well as these incidental COVID patients,” said Justin Senior, CEO for Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida, which covers 15 systems across the state including Central Florida’s Halifax Health and Orlando Health.
The incidental cases are putting a new strain on hospitals, Senior said.
“They suddenly become someone who’s counted in these statistics for hospitalizations and they put a lot of pressure on the hospital,” Senior said.
Jackson Memorial in Miami, the largest hospital in the state, has 40% of its beds filled by incidental cases. They have put a pause on elective surgeries for a second time
Read: Some jobs return, but economic recovery uneven across U.S.
Orlando Health is reporting half that rate, at 20% incidental cases. Halifax Health has 15%.
A continued rise in incidental cases could lead to more issues, Senior said.
“If we see a lot more of these positives, you’re going to see a lot more of these incidental hospitalizations, and hospitals are going to have to plan individually on how they can best serve the community,” he said. “It’s putting stress on the system but so far I think the hospitals in the state of FL have been up to the challenge.”
Read: Increase in Florida COVID-19 tests causing longer turnaround for results
However, Senior said, the bright spot is that more than half of new infections are people in their 30s, and are unlikely to be hospitalized for long, if at all.