JACKSONVILLE, Fla — COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Florida, with a spike being seen in counties across the state.
As of Friday, Baptist Health Jacksonville has 141 patients hospitalized for the novel coronavirus, according to Dr. Elizabeth Ransom, Executive Vice President and Chief Physician Officer of Baptist Health.
Sixteen of those patients are in the ICU, Ransom says.
She says they have about 200 total ICU beds at their facility. Hospitalizations have increased at Baptist Health, but ICU numbers have decreased.
"We are definitely seeing more patients for sure, but they tend to be younger, fewer chronic conditions, less vulnerable, and not quite as sick," Ransom said. "That's not to say that we don't have some very ill patients that are in the intensive care unit. Certainly, people can still get very sick from this disease."
Ransom says at the beginning of the pandemic, people were hospitalized for about eight days on average. Now, the patients are only hospitalized for about three days on average.
"I think it's because the patients aren't as ill. They need to be hospitalized, but they're not as ill as the patients we were seeing earlier on," Ransom explained.
Statewide there has been an 82% decline in deaths from COVID-19.