Sarasota Memorial Hospital breaks record, reporting 131 COVID-19 patients

Sarasota Memorial Hospital reported 131 COVID-19 patients Monday, a new record as daily infections and hospitalizations also surge to unprecedented levels statewide.

Health officials say the increase in COVID-19 patients is concerning, but manageable for local hospitals so far.

"Our hospital system has capacity," said Chuck Henry, the health officer for the Florida Department of Health's Sarasota County office. "It doesn't mean we're laissez-faire about what's going on."

Henry noted that local hospitals all have plans to free up more space for COVID-19 patients if necessary, calling the situation "something we're all monitoring very closely."

The previous high number of COVID-19 patients at Sarasota Memorial was 130 on July 22, 2020.

The hospital - the largest in the region and a bellwether for the pandemic locally - expanded its intensive care unit last week from 62 to 72 beds to treat more critically ill patients. The ICU currently has 63 patients, including 29 with COVID-19.

Sarasota Memorial went from having no COVID-19 patients in the ICU a month ago to now having three dedicated ICU pods for these patients noted Dr. James Fiorica, the hospital's chief medical officer.

"We definitely are in pandemic mode right now," Fiorica said in a video released last week. "We have capacity. We have ventilators. We have equipment. We're doing good, but we're certainly in a pandemic mode."

Local surge tops state numbers:New COVID-19 cases in Sarasota-Manatee 10x what they were four weeks ago

What you need to know:Where to get a COVID-19 vaccine or test in Sarasota and Manatee counties

New wave drives up fears:Vaccinations increase in Florida amid fears about rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations

Unvaccinated driving spike:Sarasota Memorial Hospital sees surge in COVID patients; fewer than 10% are vaccinated

Sarasota Memorial has banned visitors in most circumstances to limit COVID-19 exposure in the facility.

Florida set a statewide record for COVID-19 hospitalizations Sunday with 10,207, according to the Associated Press. That came a day after the state also set a record for new infections, with 21,683, as the new delta variant spreads rapidly through the population.

Health officials have been urging people to get vaccinated, noting that the vast majority of those hospitalized with COVID-19 have not received the vaccine.

At Sarasota Memorial, 116 of the 131 COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated.

"f we can get more vaccines in more people we can reduce the hospitalizations and reduce the spread and get control of this thing," Henry said.

Sarasota County has roughly 120,000 people who are eligible to receive the vaccine but haven't, Henry said, or nearly roughly a third of the eligible population.

The weekly number of vaccinations in Florida has started edging back up after dropping for months.

In late June only around 200 people a day were getting vaccinated in Sarasota County, but that's up to between 500 and 600 a day now, Henry said.

"That's really encouraging," he added.

The vaccines have proven highly effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths.

"There's no question that when you go through our ICU and you see those patients in there I think they would wish they could have reversed time a little bit," Fiorica said in discussing the unvaccinated.

Sarasota Memorial had 115 COVID-19 patients Friday and 86 a week ago. The hospital had just four COVID-19 patients on June 19.

Nearly 3,000 COVID-19 patients have been hospitalized at Sarasota Memorial since the outbreak began, and 259 have died. The hospital reported another death Monday.

Want more local news? If you're already a subscriber, thank you! If not, please subscribe and help keep coverage of the most important local news coming.