JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – During a telephone conference with city and state leaders Friday, leadership at UF Health Jacksonville reported a sobering statistic.
According to Dr. Leon Haley, CEO of UF Health Jacksonville, the hospital has seen a 1,000% increase in cases since June 18. He said the next few weeks are going to be rough.
As of Friday, 150 people are hospitalized at UF Health Jacksonville with COVID-19. At one point in June, there were only 12 cases in the hospital.
Now, the numbers are growing daily.
“The biggest challenge we have to all of that is there is no significant end in sight,” Haley said.
Northeast Florida has been hit hard. In Jacksonville, ZIP codes 32208, 32209 and 32218 on the Northside have reported the greatest number of recent cases.
As of Friday, the average age of someone with COVID-19 at UF Health was 52 years old. There were also more men than women with the virus.
Five weeks ago, the hospital said, 51% of its patients with the virus were Black compared to 36% of its patients that were white. But there has been a switch lately.
As of Friday, 48% of its patients were Black compared to 50% white.
There’s also been a shift when it comes to deaths in the hospital from the virus.
UF Health Jacksonville said that five weeks ago 54% of its patients who died from the virus were Black while 37% were white. As of Friday, 36% of deaths were Black people and 59% were white people.
“They are largely men at this point and largely Caucasian in particular,” Haley said. “It’s still causing significant illness. It’s still causing death, particularly if you are not vaccinated.”