WEST PALM BEACH – More than 100 patients in Palm Beach County hospital emergency rooms were waiting for beds on Thursday, according to information shared at the Sept. 2 online update from Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner.

“We have children in ICU because of COVID-19,” he said. “The hospitals are very much full.

“Hospitals are adding beds,” Kerner said. “We are exceeding the normal footprint of beds in our hospitals.

He said Palm Beach County hospitals currently have 79 fully vaccinated covid patients and 564 covid patients who were not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated persons make up about 85% of hospital admissions due to covid.

He said the county’s hospitals, normally have 2,823 beds, and currently 3,033 beds are in use with 116 patients in emergency rooms, waiting for beds.

Palm Beach County hospitals have a total of 333 ICU beds, and currently 347 ICU beds are in use. Some ICU beds have been added due to the emergency, he explained.

COVID-19 patients are taking up about two-thirds of the ICU beds, he said. “We now have 195 adults in ICU and 11 children in the ICU because of COVID-19,” he explained.

Kerner said the county’s 14 hospitals are providing daily updates for the county’s COVID-19 online dashboard.

On Wednesday, county commissioners had an opportunity to meet with hospital administrators and medical directors on an individual basis.

“There are chronic staffing issues with health care facilities not just in our community but across the United States,” said Kerner. “There is an increase in demand and there is also burnout.” He said according to the Florida Hospital Association, Florida has a deficit of 8,000 nurses.

“We are going to see this going up and down,” said Dr. Alina Alonso, Florida Department of Health – Palm Beach County. “On Friday, we had 13.9% positivity rate.

“We’re in this for the long haul,” she said. Alonso said the number of people being vaccinated is making a difference. The monoclonal therapy is also helping keep people out of the hospitals, she said.

“Please get vaccinated,” said Alonso. “There is no reason for people to be positive now.

“The vaccine is tested. The vaccine is safe,” she said. The vaccine is doing its job, she explained because it is keeping most vaccinated people out of the hospitals.

Most of the deaths from covid have been unvaccinated, she added. “The breakthrough number is very low.”

Alonso said Palm Beach County vaccinations have increased 11% since July. She encouraged those who have not yet been vaccinated to get shot.

She said vaccine will not be available for younger children until late fall or winter. She advised parents to get vaccinated and to keep children too young for vaccination away from crowded areas.

“Be careful who comes to visit at your home,” she advised.

“It is so sad to see somebody in a hospital bed on a ventilator when it could have been prevented,” Alonso said.

Palm Beach County updates the county's online COVID-19 dashboard each day at 11 a.m.

The Health Care District is offering free, walk-up COVID-19 vaccinations Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Lantana Clinic parking lot at 1250 Southwinds Drive in Lantana and Lakeside Medical Center’s parking lot. The hospital is located at 39200 Hooker Highway in Belle Glade.

They are also offering vaccinations tonight (9/2) at Clematis By Night near the fountain and Saturday (9/4) at the Wayne Barton Study Center in Boca. It’s easy, convenient and no appointments are needed

Local businesses and organizations interested in hosting the Health Care District’s mobile vaccination clinic for their employees and clients can visit www.hcdpbc.org, click the purple “Mobile Clinic Vaccination & Community Event Request” button and submit the completed form for review and approval.

The county has been working with the state and a contractor to have as many public testing sites available as possible for our residents. Currently there are testing sites open at: the Gardens Branch Library, the Mid County Senior Center in Lake Worth, the South County Civic Center in West Delray Beach, FAU Tech Runway in Boca Raton, Lakeside Medical Center in Belle Glade and opening tomorrow will be a testing site at Gaines Park in West Palm Beach.

These sites will be closed this Monday for Labor Day and testing is free, but where available insurance or Medicare/Medicaid programs will be billed to help cover the costs of testing. Please bring your insurance card to the testing center. All of these sites and more can be found on  the website, http://www.pbcgov.com. Most commercial pharmacies and physician’s offices are able to do COVID testing and vaccinations for little or no cost.

The State of Florida has setup a monoclonal antibody therapy treatment site at the Westgate Park and Recreation Center in West Palm Beach. This site has the capacity to serve 300 patients per day and will be open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

On Aug. 17, PBC declared a local state of emergency, this declaration was renewed on Aug. 31 will be renewed again to take effect on Tuesday, Sept. 7 for an additional seven days. The emergency directive, 2021-A, provides for the hospital status reporting. The county has been collecting hospital data since August 25, 2021.  

Palm Beach County’s “Don’t Miss Your Shot” campaign got rolling recently with the addition of 4 wrapped Palm Tran buses. This vaccine awareness campaign will highlight the benefits of getting your vaccine and will include billboards, radio and TV ads, besides these great bus wraps.