JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville hospitals are preparing for more COVID-19 cases, with some requesting ventilators.
Baptist Health has a refrigerated truck standing by in case deaths increase.
While the number of cases at local hospitals has gown down slightly, medical experts say they are preparing for yet another surge. That’s why some hospitals have requested and received ventilators from the state. UF Health Jacksonville received 25, and Baptist Health received 75.
“I think we are seeing citywide we are running low on available ventilators. If the last two surges taught us anything, we need to be prepared for the unexpected. You never know when you’re going to have a large number of patients all of the sudden become ill -- so ill that they require support from these types of devices,” said Dr. Chirag Patel at UF Health Jacksonville. “And the last thing you want to end up with there’s a situation when you try to determine which patient gets the device.”
Ascension St. Vincent’s did not ask for any ventilators and said in a statement Thursday: “We are not having ventilator shortage issues at this time. As part of a regional and national health system, we can adjust supplies and procure additional equipment as needed, so we also do not anticipate any future issues regarding ventilators.”
The federal government has reportedly sent ventilators to Florida, but Gov. Ron DeSantis said earlier this week that he was unaware of the request for more supplies. The Florida governor clarified Thursday that he was asked about respirators -- not ventilators.
“So there was not, to this day, any requests for respirators. The mechanical ventilators, we’ve been giving those out the whole time. And what that was, was it just increasing our stockpile. And that’s why they did it, so it wasn’t a thing that was like specifically from a hospital per se, it was something that they do through FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) as a matter of course,” DeSantis said while in Jacksonville.
The five hospitals in the Baptist Health chain are where there have been the most cases in the area. The hospital system has a refrigerated truck on standby if needed to handle an increase in deaths
Baptist Health on Thursday issued a statement, which reads: “As the COVID-19 surge continues, we have secured a refrigerated trailer to be used by our five-hospital health system if needed. The trailer is currently at our Baptist Jacksonville campus. Proactive planning and preparing should neither cause alarm nor speculation. Access to appropriate equipment, supplies and materials is critical as we go through the current COVID surge and hurricane season.”
UF Health Jacksonville does not have a truck.
On Thursday, UF Health Jacksonville reported it had 243 patients with COVID-19 (down 15 from Wednesday), and 63 were in the intensive care unit and 43 were on ventilators. UF Health Jacksonville also reported two deaths Wednesday and one Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Health in Duval County has temporarily expanded COVID-19 testing hours at its Central Health Plaza in Springfield. The new hours for free testing at the health department’s Central Health Plaza -- located at 515 West 6th St. -- are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
News4Jax was told they’re expected to be in place for a couple of weeks until the health department opens testing sites at two community centers. Once those open, the testing hours at the health department’s Central Health Plaza will go back to 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.