As the number of COVID-19 cases in the United States rises, health officials advise the public to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for frequent hand washing, wearing cloth face coverings in public and maintaining 6 feet of distance from others.

According to the Florida Agency for Heath Care Administration, the number of Florida residents hospitalized related to COVID-19 has increased in the past week. As of Dec. 1, 4,159 Floridians were hospitalized, related to COVID-19. While some smaller hospitals have no ICU beds available, larger hospitals do still have capacity, with 16.5% of the ICU beds in Florida available.

• Okeechobee County currently has 11 residents hospitalized related to COVID-19. All eight ICU beds in the county are in use.
• Glades County currently has no residents hospitalized related to COVID-19. Glades County does not have a hospital.
• Hendry County currently has one resident hospitalized related to COVID-19. All four ICU beds in the county’s hospital are available.

• Palm Beach County currently has 293 residents hospitalized related to COVID-19. The county has 276 ICU beds in use and 128 available.
• Martin County currently has 25 residents hospitalized related to COVID-19. The county has two ICU beds available and 22 in use.

According to the Florida Department of Health COVID-19 dashboard, as of Dec. 1, since the start of the pandemic:
• Okeechobee County has had a total of 43 deaths and 209 resident hospitalization;
• Glades County has had a total of 10 deaths and 54 resident hospitalizations;

• Hendry County has had a total of 45 deaths and 226 resident hospitalizations;
• Palm Beach County has had a total of 1,694 deaths and 4,499 resident hospitalizations;
• Martin County has had a total of 173 deaths and 453 resident hospitalizations.