Published On: Sun, Nov 15th, 2020

Boca hospitals prepared for increase in COVID-19 patients

COVID-19 cases are increasing across the nation and state, with 2,707 positive tests this week in Palm Beach county reflecting that trend. Mid-August was the last time a greater number of people learned they had contracted the virus and over the past 2 weeks the positivity rate has averaged 6.8%. 

However, in contrast to other counties in the country, Palm Beach County hospital officials say they are “far from crisis mode”, according to the Palm Beach Post

In an interview by the Post, a spokesman for Baptist Health South Florida says their hospitals have the “ability to increase capacity…based on [a] surge plan”. Baptist Health South Florida owns Boca Raton Regional Hospital, Bethesda West Hospital and Bethesda East hospital.  

In an interview by CBS12 at the beginning of the month, Dr. Samer Fahmy, Chief Medical Officer at Boca Regional Hospital said his primary concern was not having enough tests to screen everyone that comes into the hospital. However, if COVID-19 patients continue to increase in numbers, they do have the capacity to expand their COVID-19 units at the hospital, and if it becomes necessary they could also change visiting regulations and decrease the number of elective surgeries. 

26.42% of hospital beds in the county are empty and while intensive care units at Palm Beach Gardens and Good Samaritan medical centers were at full capacity as of Wednesday, Tenet, which owns both of those hospitals, said that they did have the supplies to increase capacity if needed. 

As of right now, the increase in cases and hospitalizations in the county has been different than the initial COVID-19 spike because while there is an increase in those testing positive, individuals admitted to the hospital aren’t becoming extremely sick at the same rate as before. One theory is that this could be due to patients receiving treatments that were not available at the beginning of the pandemic. 

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