Last Call for 8.17.21 — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics

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A digest of the day's politics and policy while the bartender refreshes your drink.

Last Call — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.

First Shot

The Florida Hospital Association is warning of a system at its “absolute limits” as Florida logged another record-breaking day of COVID-19 hospitalizations Monday.

Data released Tuesday showed a spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations following a slight tapering off over the weekend.

There are now 16,521 people in Florida hospitalized with COVID-19. Nearly 50% of all adult ICU patients are infected with COVID-19.

“There can be no question that many Florida hospitals are stretched to their absolute limits,” read a written statement from Mary C. Mayhew, President and CEO of the Florida Hospital Association.

Nearly 30% of hospitals surveyed by the Florida Hospital Association will start expanding into non-care areas in the next seven days.

Some of those hospitals are in Broward County, which reports being almost out of hospital beds entirely. The county released a report that stated 187 out of 4,441 total staffed hospital beds in the county are still available, but hospitals can work to add beds through “repurposing.”

As hospitals fill up and face staffing shortages, more and more are refusing to accept transfer patients from other facilities.

“While hospitalizations continue to increase, three out of four Florida hospitals expect to face critical staff shortages in the next seven days, an increase of nearly 10% since last week, and half of our hospitals will no longer accept transfer patients from other facilities,” read Mayhew’s statement.

Palm Beach County officials are trying to get ahead of expected hospital staff shortages by declaring a state of emergency, which could allow Palm Beach to pull additional health care workers from other areas in the state.

Some metrics look promising. Week to week increases in new COVID-19 cases is starting to decline in some areas of the state, indicating case counts may be flattening before an eventual dip.

But that won’t help the state’s strained hospital system, which can expect to treat patients days or even weeks after initial infection. 

Evening Reads

The coronavirus is here forever. This is how we live with it.” via Sarah Zhang of The Atlantic

Why are so many knowledge workers quitting?” via Cal Newport of The New Yorker

Most Americans support requiring masks in public places, yet few report experiencing actual employer or government mandates” via Chris Jackson, Mallory Newall and Jinhee Yi of Axios

Delta variant threatens small businesses as it slows return-to-office plans” via Peter Grant of The Wall Street Journal

Republican views on immigration are shifting even further to the right under Joe Biden” via Michael Tesler of FiveThirtyEight

How the U.S. made affordable homes illegal” via Jerusalem Demsas and Ranjani Chakraborty of Vox

She was the only member of Congress to vote against war in Afghanistan. Some called her a traitor.” via Gillian Brockell of The Washington Post

The one big thing Biden got right about Afghanistan” via Fred Kaplan of Slate

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ lawyers ask judge to toss parents’ lawsuit over school mask policy” via Michael Moline of the Florida Phoenix

15% of Paycheck Protection Program loans could be fraudulent, study shows” via Stacy Cowley of The New York Times

Cities are making mammals bigger” via Natalie van Hoose of the Florida Museum

Q2 cord-cutting review: A quarter of pay-tv subs exited since 2016” via Gavin Bridge of Variety

Quote of the Day

“It would be worth losing that rather than losing the lives of our students or staff.” — Alachua County School Board Chair Leanetta McNealy, on threats to withhold state money for school districts that impose mask mandates.

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One comment

  • Matthew Lusk

    August 18, 2021 at 11:39 am

    Hospitals not accepting transfer patients? Why is that? I think you missed a strong there. Follow the money. For instant: would Walmart say we will not accept transfer customers from JCPenney? It doesn’t add up, there”s money involved, probably tax payer money or insurance corporation money? . Investigate if you are a journalist with a mission. Uncover the fake ethics of hospitals.

Comments are closed.


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