Pediatric Wards Reporting Increase In COVID-19 Patients in Florida

It seems like COVID-19 Déjà vu, as the deadly disease continues to spike and with more and more children coming down with the virus and being admitted to hospital pediatric wards, Florida Democrats are once again blaming Gov. Ron DeSantis for the skyrocketing infection rate and are calling him to implement restrictions, measures that many Floridians call ‘Draconian.’

Gov. DeSantis has defiantly said that he would not put in place any mask mandates of state lockdowns.

Florida Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D), as is always the case, is blaming Gov. DeSantis for the surging COVID cases.

In Florida, @GovRonDeSantis insists: NO mask mandates. NO vaccine passports. NO school rules. NO local restrictions. NO State of Emergency. NO daily data reporting. NO state testing. NO 'COVID-19 harassment'. NO nothing. What could possibly go wrong?" tweeted Rep. Smith

Rep. Smith’s Senate colleague, Sen. Shevrin Jones (D) is also calling for more restrictions to be put in place but has not gone as far as Smith’s “NO” list.

Republican Party of Florida Chair of Chairs, Evan Power, sniped at Smith's tweet, stating, "sounds like a great place to live and work." Power's response is in reference to DeSantis's "NO" restrictions agenda.

The Miami Herald has reported that Florida has seen an uptick of at least 50,000 new COVID-19 cases since last Thursday, with 93 new deaths reported on Saturday.

Broward County has the second-highest infection rate behind Miami-Dade County. At Broward Health Hospital in Fort Lauderdale,  the emergency rooms are filled with COVID patients, including the pediatric emergency room..

Just this past Friday night, at any given moment there were at least 2 children in the emergency room with COVID. The new Delta variant is proving to be particularly dangerous for children.

In addition, as the hospital’s pediatric ER fills, so do the pediatric wards on several floors. Many of the children already admitted to the hospital are being moved to overflow rooms to make room for children with more emergent sicknesses.

Most of those cases are COVID infections.

How do we know this for sure?

As I type this post at midnight, I am sitting alone in one of the overflow rooms with my youngest daughter who was admitted last Friday night for possibly having a rare and serious non-infectious disease. Because she is responding well to treatment, and she is negative for COVID, she was moved to the overflow room.

One nurse told us that “clean” children are being moved from the main pediatric floors to make room for the COVID patients and kids with more pressing medical issues.

With all the admissions at Broward Health, and with all of the pivoting healthcare providers have been forced to do between floors, the level of care has not missed a step.

On a personal note. Thank you, Dr. Francis Amador and the entire Pediatrics ER, as well as the two Dr.Patels and the other doctors and nurses that made Baby S's stay as comfortable as possible.